chick

Etymology 1

From Middle English chicke, chike, variation of chiken (“chicken", also "chick”), from Old English ċicen, ċycen (“chicken”). Sense of "young woman" dates to at least 1860 (compare chit (“young, pert woman”)). More at chicken.

noun

1. A young bird.
   Coordinate term: birdlet
   Published in the Communications Earth & Environment journal, scientists conclude that due to sea ice loss last year, it is highly probable that no chicks had survived from four of the five known emperor penguin colonies in the central and eastern Bellingshausen Sea in Antarctica. 24 Aug 2023, Pádraig Hoare, “90% of emperor penguin colonies doomed to extinction by century's end”, in Irish Examiner
2. A young chicken.
3. (dated, endearing) A young child.
4. (chiefly US, Canada, Australia, colloquial, somewhat derogatory) A young, typically attractive, woman or teenage girl.
   They're going to have a chick weekend. No guys allowed.
   He'll fall for any chick with a nice smile.
   "I thought you had some common sense, Frank," said Uncle John; "but I see you are as great a fool as all the rest. Marry, indeed! A pretty chick to marry!" 1860, Joseph Verey, Tinsel and Gold: A Fireside Story, London: James Blackwood, page 155
   He had determined that marriage now would cramp his advancement in the church and that, anyway, he didn't want to marry this brainless little fluffy chick, who would be of no help in impressing rich parishioners. 1927, Sinclair Lewis, Elmer Gantry
   Three cool chicks / Are walking down the street / Swinging their hips 1958, Jerry Leiber; Mike Stoller (lyrics and music), “Three Cool Cats”
   Good. It's nice to have a chick occasionally. 1970, Gimme Shelter (motion picture), Mick Jagger (actor)
   I can't believe you've got a hot chick in that ratty apartment with you. 2004, Tess Pendergrass, Bad moon rising
5. (military, slang) A friendly fighter aircraft.
   The Aldis lamp flashes at the underside of each aircraft. It shows that the gear is down. Diegal is relaxing. This is such low responsibility, easy night duty. All the “chicks” (fighter aircraft) are home to roost except one. 2004, Joe Welzen, The Gutsy Stomach Walker, page 50

verb

1. (obsolete) To sprout, as seed does in the ground; to vegetate.
   plowing in his oats with a very feet furrow; and, after they have “chicked” but before they appear aboveground 1795, William Marshall, The Rural Economy of Norfolk
2. To compress the lips and then separate them quickly, resulting in a percussive noise.
   He chicked his lips; he cracked his whip; he winked with a knowing leer; he ran down the alley and up the stair, then down the stair and up the alley 1844, James Ballantine, The Miller of Deanhaugh

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Hindustani چق (ciq) / चिक (cik), ultimately from Persian چق (čeq).

noun

1. (India, Pakistan) A screen or blind made of finely slit bamboo and twine, hung in doorways or windows.
   1890, Rudyard Kipling, Letter to William Canton, 5 April, 1890, in Sandra Kemp and Lisa Lewis (eds.) Writings on writing by Rudyard Kipling, Cambridge University Press, 1996, p. 34, https://books.google.ca/books?id=-AQStA5QMjwC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false Then, through a cautiously lifted chick, the old scene stands revealed […]
   It is not uncommon at meal-time to see the table servants chasing the sparrows about the room, endeavouring to drive them out while some one holds up the "chick" or bamboo net which covers the doorway. 1905, A. C. Newcombe, chapter VII, in Village, Town, and Jungle Life in India, Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, page 106
   Outside I could hear the bamboo chick tapping on the door like a blind man's stick on a kerbstone. 1999, Kevin Rushby, chapter 10, in Chasing the Mountain of Light: Across India on the Trail of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond, New York: St. Martin's Press, page 216