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Glite Dictionary
chicken and rice

chicken and rice

3 1.0
A dish of rice cooked with pieces of chicken and mild seasonings, served warm
  • noun
translation icon : pollo con arroz
  • For dinner, we had chicken and rice cooked with spices and vegetables.
  • chicken and rice dish
  • chicken and rice for lunch
  • curried chicken and rice

I remember one time I went to a restaurant and I ordered chicken and rice and I'm like, man, this is dry.

Examples

  • Chicken and rice (either fresh or leftover) join kitchen staples like frozen veggies

    Blog text (1)

  • Creamed chicken and rice.

    The Women of Brewster Place (1989)

  • So I got a chicken and rice pot.

  • Alright, so gravy, chicken and rice all together.

  • My mom made BBQ chicken and rice and tomatoes.

  • Oh, the traditional egg-lemon soup with chicken and rice is so yummy.

    Bury Your Gays (2025)

  • Nita had made chicken and rice, and someone brought a couple of supermarket pies.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • The first serves a simple Hainanese chicken and rice dish popular in Bangkok.

    Blog text (2)

  • Add the cooked chicken and rice to the wok, drizzle in the soy sauce, then toss everything to combine and heat through.

    Blog text (1)

  • From comforting creamy chicken and rice soup to refreshing gazpacho, 300 Sensational Soups offers something for every season, mood, and occasion.

    Blog text (11)

Synonyms

chicken purloo
vschicken and rice
  • US
9.8

A thick rice stew with chicken from the southern United States

is a more general cooked combination rather than a thick stew
pilaw
vschicken and rice
  • US
6.5

A rice dish cooked in a tasty broth with onions, vegetables, and sometimes meat

focuses on combining poultry and grain together rather than broth cooking

How Complex

biryani
4 4.7
paella
17 5.1
chicken and rice
3 1.0
pilaf
5 3.3

Surface Forms

chicken and rice singular
chicken and rices plural

Morphology

chicken + and + rice

The meaning is directly and literally composed from the constituents: 'chicken' + 'and' + 'rice' describes a combination of those ingredients, so a B1 learner who knows the words will infer a dish of chicken with rice. This compositional pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows ordinary noun coordination, so the expression is immediately understandable without prior exposure.

Etymology

Chicken and rice comes from the way the meal is made: people cook chicken and rice together in one pot as a simple, filling food. That's why the phrase today means a warm, cooked 'dish' of chicken mixed with rice.