A chick is a baby bird, especially a newly hatched chicken. When you see those fluffy yellow creatures peeping around a farmyard in spring, those are chicks. The word applies to baby chickens most commonly, but people also use it for other young birds like baby robins.

Chicks are remarkably small and vulnerable when they first hatch from their eggs. They're covered in soft down feathers (not the stiff feathers adult birds have), and they depend completely on warmth and protection. Mother hens keep their chicks warm under their wings and teach them how to find food. On farms, people often keep chicks under heat lamps since they can't regulate their own body temperature yet.

The word can also refer informally to any baby bird you might see: someone might point to a nest and say, “Look, there are three chicks in there!” watching their mother bird feed them.

People sometimes use “chick” as slang to refer to girls or young women, but this usage is considered disrespectful and outdated by most people today.