鶏（にわとり、niwatori）
- chicken

The Japanese word 鶏 ([鶏]) primarily refers to "chicken" or "domestic fowl". It encompasses both the male (rooster) and female (hen) of the species. It can also refer to the meat of a chicken when used in cooking.

⚫︎ 鶏肉 Translation: Chicken meat ⚫︎ 鶏を飼う Translation: To raise chickens ⚫︎ 鶏が鳴く Translation: The chicken crows

⚫︎ 鶏 ([鶏]) is used in everyday conversation, in cooking, and in descriptions of animals and farming. ⚫︎ It is a general term, so it's applicable in many contexts.

⚫︎ The word 鶏 ([鶏]) is typically written in kanji. ⚫︎ The hiragana reading is にわとり, but this is the common way to refer to "chicken". ⚫︎ There are no significant variations in okurigana.

⚫︎ にわとり (hiragana for chicken) ⚫︎ チャボ (chabo, a breed of chicken) - specific breed

There aren't specific antonyms in the same way, as it refers to a type of animal.

このレストランの親子丼は、新鮮な鶏を使っています。 ・Translation: This restaurant's oyako-don uses fresh chicken. ・Explanation: This sentence explains that the oyako-don (chicken and egg rice bowl) at the restaurant uses fresh [鶏] (chicken).

庭で何羽か鶏を飼っています。 ・Translation: I keep some chickens in the garden. ・Explanation: This sentence explains that [鶏] (chickens) are kept in the garden.

The kanji 鶏 is a combination of the radical 鳥 (bird) and the phonetic component 圭. The phonetic component provides the sound and the radical signifies the general category, a bird. The reading にわとり derives from the older form, with "niwa" meaning "garden" and "tori" meaning "bird". This indicates chickens were originally domesticated and raised near dwellings.