egg

IPA/eɡ/
KK[ˈɛɡ]IPA/eɡ/

egg — noun

  • eggsingular
  • eggsplural

1. a hard-shelled oval object laid by a hen or other female bird, often boiled, fri

1.nounA1
Definition

a hard-shelled oval object laid by a hen or other female bird, often boiled, fried, or used as an ingredient in cooking

Example

Keiko cracked two eggs into the bowl and began whisking.

collocation: crack an egg

Nadia bought a dozen eggs at the market on Saturday morning.

Common collocations
  • crack an egg
  • boil an egg
  • fry an egg
  • scrambled eggs
  • poached egg
  • egg white
  • egg yolk
  • egg shell
  • a dozen eggs

Common Mistakes

I ate two egg yolks for breakfast.' (when you mean whole eggs).
I ate two eggs for breakfast.
A yolk is only the yellow part inside; the whole thing is called an egg.

2. an object made to look like a hen's egg, often used as a decoration or a sweet

2.nounA2
Definition

an object made to look like a hen's egg, often used as a decoration or a sweet

Example

Amara unwrapped a small chocolate egg from the gold foil.

The children hunted for painted eggs in the garden all afternoon.

cultural reference: Easter egg hunt

Common collocations
  • chocolate egg
  • Easter egg
  • Fabergé egg
  • wooden egg
  • marble egg
  • painted egg

3. the small round body that a female bird, reptile, fish, or insect lays, with a g

3.nounB1
Definition

the small round body that a female bird, reptile, fish, or insect lays, with a growing baby inside that will hatch when ready

Example

A robin laid three blue eggs in the tree outside Fatima's window.

collocation: lay eggs

The turtle buried her eggs deep in the warm sand at dawn.

Common collocations
  • lay eggs
  • hatch eggs
  • bird's egg
  • turtle eggs
  • insect eggs
  • snake eggs
Synonyms
  • roe

    specifically fish eggs, often eaten as food

  • spawn

    the mass of eggs laid by fish, frogs, or other water creatures

Usage Note

Distinguish from sense 1 (CHICKEN EGG): this sense refers to eggs in nature that are meant to hatch, not eggs produced for food.

Common Mistakes

The hen laid an egg and a chick came out the next day.' (when talking about a shop-bought egg).
The hen sat on the egg until the chick hatched.
Most eggs we eat (sense 1) are not fertilised and will never hatch.

4. the tiny cell inside a woman or female animal that can join with a male cell to

4.nounB2
Definition

the tiny cell inside a woman or female animal that can join with a male cell to start a pregnancy

Example

Doctors can now freeze a woman's eggs for future pregnancy attempts.

collocation: freeze eggs

Ines learned about how eggs are released during the monthly cycle.

Common collocations
  • freeze eggs
  • donor egg
  • fertilise an egg
  • egg donation
  • egg cell
Synonyms
  • ovum

    formal scientific term for the same cell

Usage Note

Scientific and medical term. In everyday conversation, people often use 'egg' loosely for both the food item (sense 1) and the reproductive cell (sense 4), but the two are distinct concepts.

5. an ice hockey result in which neither side scores a goal, leaving both teams at

5.nounC1
Definition

an ice hockey result in which neither side scores a goal, leaving both teams at zero

Example

After a tense match, both teams logged eggs and went to overtime.

sports slang: eggs = zero score

The goalie's heroics kept the score at eggs for the visiting side.

Synonyms
  • goose egg

    informal North American term for a zero score in any sport

Usage Note

Only used in ice hockey commentary. The term is rare; most other sports use 'nil', 'zero', or 'shutout' for a scoreless result.

egg — verb

Word family

  • eggshell
    nounB1
  • eggy
    adjectiveB1
  • eggless
    adjectiveB2
  • egg white
    nounA2
  • egg yolk
    nounB1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

The word 'egg' in its most common sense refers to the familiar food item from chickens. 'Ovum' is the formal scientific term for the female reproductive cell — the same biological object, but used almost exclusively in medical and biological contexts. 'Roe' refers specifically to fish eggs, and it is almost always used when those eggs are prepared and eaten as food (e.g. 'salmon roe'). 'Yolk' is the yellow inner part of an egg — not the whole thing; using 'yolk' to mean a whole egg is a common learner mistake. 'Spawn' describes the mass of eggs laid together by fish, frogs, or other water creatures, not individual eggs. For example: a chef fries an egg (sense 1), a biologist studies an ovum (sense 4), a diner enjoys roe, and a pond is full of frog spawn.

ovum ↗roeyolk ↗spawn ↗

Common collocations

Phrases

  • lay an egg

Prepositions

  • with egg

Etymology

Proto-Indo-EuropeanProto-GermanicOld NorseMiddle EnglishEnglish

The Modern English word 'egg' comes from Old Norse 'egg', which replaced the native Old English word 'æg' (the Old English form would likely have become 'eye' if it had survived). Both go back to Proto-Germanic *ajją and ultimately Proto-Indo-European *h₂ōwyóm, meaning 'egg'. Interestingly, the verb sense 'to egg on' (incite) has a completely separate origin: it comes from Old English 'eggian', meaning 'to edge or goad', from Proto-Germanic *agjō ('edge'). The noun and this verb coincidentally merged in spelling during the Middle English period.