egg
Meanings
- An approximately spherical or ellipsoidal body produced by birds, insects, reptiles, and other animals, often housing an embryo within a membrane or shell during its development.
- The (usually) non-developing, edible egg (sense 1.1) of a domestic fowl such as a duck, goose, or, especially, chicken; (uncountable) the contents of such an egg or eggs used as food.
- A food item shaped to resemble an egg (sense 1.1.1), such as a chocolate egg.
- Synonym of ovum (“the female gamete of an animal”); an egg cell.
- A thing which looks like or is shaped like an egg (sense 1.1).
- A swelling on one's head, usually large or noticeable, resulting from an injury.
- Chiefly in egg and dart: an ornamental oval moulding alternating in a row with dart or triangular shapes.
- A score of zero; specifically (cricket), a batter's failure to score; a duck egg or duck's egg.
- A bomb or mine.
- A would-be spark, especially one created by an overweight spaceship and that leads to a pattern's destruction.
- Senses relating to people.
- A person; a fellow.
- To throw (especially rotten) eggs (noun sense 1.1.1) at (someone or something).
- To inadvertently or intentionally distort (the circular cross-section of something, such as tube) to an elliptical or oval shape.
- To coat (a food ingredient) with or dip (a food ingredient) in beaten egg (noun sense 1.1.1) during the process of preparing a dish.
- To collect the eggs (noun sense 1.1) of wild birds.
- To conceive a child, especially recklessly.
- To encourage, incite, or urge (someone).
- A surname.
- A Koenigsegg car.
- The character Solas from the Dragon Age franchise (referring to his baldness).
- A market town in Bregenz district, Vorarlberg, Austria.
- A municipality in Uster district, Zürich canton, Switzerland.
- Initialism of electroglottography.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English eg, egg, egge (“egg of a domestic or wild fowl; egg of a snake”) [and other forms] (originally Northern England and Northeast Midlands), from Old Norse egg (“egg”), from Proto-Germanic *ajją (“egg”) (by Holtzmann’s law), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ōwyóm (“egg”), probably from *h₂éwis (“bird”), from *h₂ew- (“to consume”). Doublet of huevo, oeuf, and ovum. Cognates Cognate with North Frisian ai (“egg”), Saterland Frisian Oai (“egg”), West Frisian aai, aei (“egg”), Bavarian Oa (“egg”), Dutch ei (“egg”), German Ei (“egg”), German Low German Ai, Ägg (“egg”), Limburgish ei, Éï (“egg”), Luxembourgish Ee (“egg”), Mòcheno oi (“egg”), Vilamovian e (“egg”), Yiddish איי (ey, “egg”), Danish æg (“egg”), Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk egg (“egg”), Swedish ägg (“egg”), Crimean Gothic ada (“egg”); also Breton vi (“egg”), Cornish oy (“egg”), Welsh wy (“egg”), Latin ōvum (“egg”), Greek αβγό (avgó), αυγό (avgó, “egg”), Albanian vo (“egg”), Belarusian and Russian яйцо́ (jajcó, “egg”), Bulgarian яйце́ (jajcé, “egg”), Czech vejce (“egg”), Macedonian јајце (jajce, “egg”), Polish jajo (“egg”), Serbo-Croatian ја́јце, jájce (“egg”), Slovak vajce (“egg”), Slovene jájce (“egg”), Ukrainian яйце́ (jajcé, “egg”), Ossetian айк (ajk), айкӕ (ajkæ, “egg”), Armenian ձու (ju, “egg”), Northern Kurdish hêk (“egg”), Southern Kurdish خا (xa, “egg”), Zazaki hak (“egg”), Pashto هګۍ (hagë́y), ويه (wë́ya, “egg”), Persian خاگ (xâg), خایه (xâye, “egg”). The native English ey [and other forms] (plural eyren) (obsolete), from Old English ǣġ, is also derived from Proto-Germanic *ajją. It survived into at least c. 16th century before being fully displaced by egg. The verb is derived from the noun.