Word.ws English Dictionary

chickenhawk

/ˈt͡ʃɪkɪnˌhɔk/

chickenhawk noun: any of the North American hawk species (Cooper's hawk, sharp-shinned hawk and red-tailed hawk), or counterparts elsewhere, mistakenly believed to be pests.

Noun

chickenhawk (plural chickenhawks)

  1. Any of the North American hawk species (Cooper's hawk, sharp-shinned hawk and red-tailed hawk), or counterparts elsewhere, mistakenly believed to be pests.
  2. (US, derogatory) A draft dodger, especially in the Vietnam War, who nonetheless currently supports United States overseas military engagements.
  3. (derogatory, slang) An older, usually more powerful man who preys on adolescent boys for sex.
    • For every instance of Saul's good-humoredly putting one over on the criminal justice system […] to free his younger lover from his latest legal trouble, Rogers recounts callous treatment at the hands of the older man. In addition, Sinbad suffers brutal depredations from the city's other chicken...1985 August 24, Mark McHarry, “Adult/Youth Sex as Fiction, Fact, and Fate”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 7, page 8

chickenhawk meaning in Tamil

chickenhawk in Tamil

நமது பூமியில் காணப்படும் பறவைகளில், இது ஒரு சிறப்பு இனமாகும்

Forms of chickenhawk

pluralchickenhawks

Origin of chickenhawk

From chicken + hawk. The political sense is derived from figurative meanings of “coward” and “militant” respectively.

Questions about chickenhawk

What does chickenhawk mean?
Chickenhawk means any of the North American hawk species (Cooper's hawk, sharp-shinned hawk and red-tailed hawk), or counterparts elsewhere, mistakenly believed to be pests.
What is chickenhawk in Tamil?
Chickenhawk in Tamil is நமது பூமியில் காணப்படும் பறவைகளில், இது ஒரு சிறப்பு இனமாகும். See Chickenhawk meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is chickenhawk?
Chickenhawk is a noun.
How do you pronounce chickenhawk?
Chickenhawk is pronounced /ˈt͡ʃɪkɪnˌhɔk/.
What is the plural of chickenhawk?
The plural of chickenhawk is chickenhawks.

Words near chickenhawk in the dictionary

  1. chickenfeeds
  2. chickenfucker
  3. chickenfuckers
  4. chickenfurter
  5. chickenfurters
  6. chickenhawk
  7. chickenhawks
  8. chickenhead
  9. chickenheads
  10. chickenhearted
  11. chickenheartedly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: chickenhawk (page history and authors); chickenhawk (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-chickenhawk.ogg.

Cite this entry: “chickenhawk.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/chickenhawk. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.