chicken-and-egg

[ chik-uhn-uhn-eg, -uhnd- ]

adjective

1. of, relating to, or being a dilemma of which of two things came first or of which is the cause and which the effect:

   a chicken-and-egg question of whether matter or energy is the basis of the universe.

Word History and Origins

Origin of chicken-and-egg¹

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

“It is a chicken-and-egg thing,” says one senior Western diplomat in Doha.

From The Daily Beast