chicken salad vs salad

chicken salad and salad both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
chicken salad	Yes	No	No	No
salad	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, salad is a hypernym of chicken salad; that is, salad is a word with a broader meaning than chicken salad:

chicken salad: salad composed primarily of chopped chicken meat
salad: food mixtures either arranged on a plate or tossed and served with a moist dressing; usually consisting of or including greens

chicken salad (noun)	salad (noun)
salad composed primarily of chopped chicken meat	food mixtures either arranged on a plate or tossed and served with a moist dressing; usually consisting of or including greens