Meanings
present singular third person chickenizes · participle present chickenizing · participle past chickenized · past chickenized
- intransitivetransitiveuncommonbusinessTo make (an industry or field of commerce) into a vertically and horizontally integrated industry.
To compete with the chicken industry, hog and cattle producers could follow the model that Moeller was slowly building for pig farms. They could chickenize.
2014, Christopher Leonard, The Meat Racket: The Secret Takeover of America’s Food Business, New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 1521 more example
Chokepoint capitalists want to chickenize everything they can, so they can control—and capture the lion's share of value from—other people's labor. Now the live music industry is being chickenized too.
2022, Rebecca Giblin, Cory Doctorow, Chokepoint Capitalism […] , Boston: Beacon Press, →ISBN
Origin
From chicken + -ize. In the business sense popularized by American journalist Christopher Leonard (author) in the context of the US poultry industry, where just a few companies control almost all aspects of chicken production, such as feed, medicines, and chicken houses. This model was later followed by other industries.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
chickenize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chickenize
“chickenize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chickenize. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chickenize,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chickenize.
Source: chickenize on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.