chicken on a stick
- noun
Examples
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We could get some chicken on a stick tonight.
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Baby, chicken on a stick.
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At the fair, I always look forward to enjoying chicken on a stick for lunch.
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The food stall offers delicious chicken on a stick with a variety of sauces.
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We decided to try the famous chicken on a stick at the local festival.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'grilled or cooked pieces of chicken served on a skewer' is directly and literally derivable from combining 'chicken' + 'on' + 'a' + 'stick' — the phrase describes chicken placed on a stick/skewer. This concrete locative/compositional pattern is common across languages and everyday contexts (street food, kebabs), so a B1 learner who knows the words would readily understand it.
Etymology
Chicken on a stick is a very literal name: pieces of chicken are put on a wooden stick and grilled so people can eat them by hand. That's why the phrase means 'grilled or cooked pieces of chicken served on a skewer', often sold as a quick snack at markets and fairs.