chicken-and-egg

adjective

chick·​en-and-egg ˈchi-kᵊn-ən(d)-ˈeg 

-ˈāg

: of, relating to, or being a cause-and-effect dilemma

Examples of chicken-and-egg in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Solutions to the vehicle-to-everything (V2X) problem have to date relied on new networking protocols built from scratch—only to discover chicken-and-egg problems, thorny standards wars, and real signal congestion challenges at scale. — IEEE Spectrum, 20 Aug. 2026

However, the feature game is something of a chicken-and-egg situation. — Amy Panos, Better Homes & Gardens, 1 July 2026

And thus begins the series of chicken-and-egg questions about the San Antonio Spurs’ shooting performance in the loss. — John Hollinger, New York Times, 5 June 2026

The math isn’t mathing The childcare crisis is essentially a chicken-and-egg problem. — Sydney Lake, Fortune, 3 May 2026

Word History

Etymology

from the proverbial question "which came first, the chicken or the egg?"

First Known Use

1857, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for chicken-and-egg

• craig
• plague
• vague