Bachelor's handbag is Australian and British slang for a hot supermarket rotisserie chicken in its bag, suggesting easy single-man cooking. Not concerning, humorous vocabulary. If your kid uses it constantly, ask them where they first heard it, not to police their speech but to understand which online community they are in. Most slang of this kind moves through TikTok and group chats, so seeing it in your child's vocabulary just means they are plugged into normal teen internet culture.
bachelor's handbag
(Australia, slang) A roast chicken sold in a disposable plastic carry bag with a handle.
ˈbæt͡ʃəlɚz ˈhændˌbæɡDocumented since 2010s2010sGen Ztrending241 viewsLast reviewed Jun 29, 2026＋ Add a definition
Etymology timeline
Born ~2010 · no dated citations yetDefinitions
Global
#1·Apr 26, 2026Global
(Australia, slang) A roast chicken sold in a disposable plastic carry bag with a handle.
Origin: From , apparently from the observation that single men would rather purchase the ready-to-eat poultry in a bag than cook it themselves. Origin information sourced from Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0).
For parents
Bachelor's handbag is Australian and British slang for a hot supermarket rotisserie chicken in its bag, suggesting easy single-man cooking. Not concerning, humorous vocabulary. If your kid uses it constantly, ask them where they first heard it, not to police their speech but to understand which online community they are in. Most slang of this kind moves through TikTok and group chats, so seeing it in your child's vocabulary just means they are plugged into normal teen internet culture.
For ESL learners
Bachelor's handbag is Australian and British informal slang for a takeaway hot rotisserie chicken in its plastic bag, humorously implying convenient bachelor cooking. Use in casual contexts. Formal equivalent: "a takeaway rotisserie chicken." Common non-native mistake: assuming it is an actual handbag. The humour relies on the chicken bag's resemblance to one. Read or listen to the word in context several times before trying it yourself; the right register is harder to learn than the dictionary meaning.
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For specific readers
Why is this section here?
Slang is read by different audiences for very different reasons. The For parents view re-explains the term in plain, non-judgemental language so a caregiver can understand what their child means without needing the surrounding subculture. The For English learners view focuses on register (when it's safe to use), formal alternatives, and common mistakes — what a textbook won't teach you.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
See all Regional & Other slang on Slangora.
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Other words near "bachelor's handbag" (B)
bachelor apartmentbachelorettebachelorette padbachelorette partybachelor padbachelor partyback alleybackativebackbenchbackblockback-buttbackcast
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