In a season of felicitations and rooster-related bonhomie, it is worth remembering that in the Chinese linguistic multiverse the word 雞 jī (鸡 鳮 鶏 鷄) covers a range of meanings: chicken, hen, rooster, cock, heroic, outspoken, steadfast, as well as including less-salubrious terms such as prostitute 雞、 野雞 (the latter expression also means pheasant, although 野雞大學 means a university that is little better than a ‘diploma mill’), penis 雞巴、雞雞, sodomy and male-to-male penetrative sex 雞姦 and even the concept of insignificance 雞毛, literally ‘chicken feathers’.…
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