The Chinese word 小鸡 (xiǎo jī) is a compound noun formed by combining the adjective 小 (xiǎo), meaning "small" or "little," with the noun 鸡 (jī), meaning "chicken." This follows a common and highly productive grammatical structure in Mandarin where a descriptive modifier is placed directly before the core noun it describes, creating a new, specific term. Therefore, the literal and functional meaning is "small chicken," or more naturally in English, a "chick."