chicken and egg

noun

Etymology

From the proverbial question of whether the chicken or the egg came first, attested as early as Aristotle (4th century BCE).

Definitions

  1. A situation or case in which it is difficult to distinguish cause and effect, having a…

    A situation or case in which it is difficult to distinguish cause and effect, having a circular character.

    • From present observation, A and B are needed to make C, and C is needed to make A and B. This chemical cycle has, again, a “chicken and egg” character.
    • When it comes to fighting for democracy and climate change – two of Jamie Raskin’s top priorities – the whole thing feels a bit like a game of chicken and egg to the Democratic congressman.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for chicken and egg. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA