| 单词 | chicken-and- egg |
| 释义 | > as lemmaschicken-and-(the-)egg P4. chicken-and-(the-)egg: used as a modifier, designating the apparent paradox posed by the question ‘Which came first: the chicken or the egg?’, expressing the problem of determining which of two entities or events should be considered the cause and which the effect when each appears to depend on the prior existence of the other.This particular example of the problem is first recorded in Plutarch ( Quaestiones Conviviales 635 E ff.); cf. quot. 1603 at hen n.1 Phrases 4. The relationship between actual and potential entities had previously been discussed by Aristotle ( Metaphysics 1049 b).Now more common than the earlier hen-and-(the)-egg at hen n.1 Phrases 4. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > causation > [phrase] > chicken-and-the-egg hen-and-egg1855 chicken-and-(the-)egg1857 1857 Boston Investigator 18 Nov. ‘All acorns come from oaks, and all oaks come from acorns’, like the chicken and egg problem quoted by ‘X. B.’, yet oaks will spring up where there are no acorns, and it is only where they come out of the ground, that their origin is any more obscure than a chicken originating spontaneously. 1967 Guardian 24 Feb. 8/5 The chicken-and-egg attitude towards the home background of addicts. 2018 Calgary (Alberta) Herald (Nexis) 24 Oct. b9 It's also a little bit of a chicken-and-egg situation, because the defence didn't help itself in the second half when it allowed the Riders offence to stay on the field. < as lemmas |
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