gallina means the live chicken?

Question

I heard from someone that gallina means the live animal is this true?

Answer 1

True. However, some latino cultures use "gallina" as a separate term from pollo, after the bird's cooked also. I know for a fact that in Puerto Rico, Perú, and the Dominican Republic, if you get "una sopa de gallina", it doesn't mean that the waiter is misusing a word, or that they took the animal straight from the farm into the boiler, feathers and all, it means he is giving you a soup made with an older, fatter hen, whose meat is darker.

I agree completely. - Gekkosan, Apr 2, 2011

To complement this answer: to me, "pollo" is a young chicken, regardless of whether it is alive or dead and, in practice, regardless of gender. Gallina is stricly a hen, again regardless of it being dead or alive. In food terms the use of "gallina" is.... - Gekkosan, Apr 2, 2011

...as described by Tom. "Gallo" is strictly a rooster, alive or dead. In some, but not all Latin American contries, the mature rooster is used exclusively for the prepation of certain dishes. - Gekkosan, Apr 2, 2011

Thus, at least in Venezuela, Colombia and Puerto Rico, if you ask for a dish with gallina, don't expect to get chicken -expect to get mature hen - which is a tougher, richer meat than chicken. - Gekkosan, Apr 2, 2011

Absolutely, Gekkosan. - 002067fe, Apr 2, 2011

True in Bolivia too. - ian-hill, Apr 2, 2011

Answer 2

I have always heard the Mexicans use "el pollo" for a chicken that is dead and either brought from the store or cooked. They use "la gallina" for a live chicken that is out in the yard.

It is similar to the way that Americans use "pork" and "pig."

Answer 3

In Spain, a running chicken is "gallina" and a dead one is "una gallina muerta" (a dead chicken). However, its meat is normally referred to only as "pollo", a word used also to mean "chick".

What do you mean by "chick"? do you mean a pretty young female of the human variety? if so is it alright to call a nice young spanish female "pollo"? - kenwilliams, Apr 2, 2011

No, Lazarus means the baby chick - you know, fluffy yellow things with two legs and a beak sort of thing? Those are also pollos, or "pollitos". - Gekkosan, Apr 2, 2011

Answer 4

Yes.