Chicken which is known as one of the Chinese 12 zodiac animal signs is also one of the closest animals in the daily life of both Chinese and Vietnamese people. Rooster signals the beginning of a day with his crow, the symbol of power, brings happiness to everyone through cockfighting. Hen lays eggs and brings great economic benefits. Besides, chicken is also associated with cultural beliefs and cuisine as well as many other aspects of human life. That is reflected in the language and culture of both China and Vietnam. In this article, we conducted a survey to discover meanings of the word “chicken”, to analyze the words and phrases, especially idioms, containing “chicken” in both Chinese and Vietnamese, and then, to highlight the relationship between language and culture expressed through the image of chicken in Chinese and Vietnamese.
