# egg
## English
### Pronunciation

* Audio (UK):(file)
* (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: ĕg, IPA: /ɛɡ/
* Audio (US):(file)
* (some Canadian and US accents) enPR: āg, IPA: /eɪɡ/
* Homophone: Eigg
* Rhymes: -ɛɡ

### Etymology 1

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 clothe oneself, dress; to be dressed”) (in the sense of an animal clothed in feathers). Doublet of huevo, oeuf, and ovum.
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.

#### Noun

egg (countable and uncountable, plural eggs)
* (countable, zoology)
** An approximately spherical or ellipsoidal body produced by birds, insects, reptiles, and other animals, housing the embryo within a membrane or shell during its development.
*** 1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Job xxxix:[13–15], folio xi, recto, column 2:The Eſtrich (whoſe fethers are fayrer thẽ y$^e$ wynges of the ſparow hauke) whẽ he hath layd his egges vpon the grounde, he bredeth them in the duſt, and forgetteth them: ſo that they might be troden with feete, or broken with ſomme wilde beaſt.
*** 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 114, column 1:[T]hinke him as a Serpents egge, / VVhich hatch'd, vvould as his kinde grovv mischieuous; / And kill him in the ſhell.
*** 1657, Samuel Purchas, “Of the Generation of Bees”, in A Theatre of Politicall Flying-Insects. […], London: […] R. I. for Thomas Parkhurst, […], →OCLC, pages 47–48:An egg properly is that, out of a part vvhereof a living creature is produced, and the reſidue is meat for it, improperly that is an egg out of the vvhole vvhereof, a living creature is bred, as the eggs of Spiders, Ants, Flies.
*** 1791, Oliver Goldsmith, “Of Quadrupeds in General, Compared to Man”, in An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. […], new edition, volume II, London: […] F[rancis] Wingrave, successor to Mr. [John] Nourse, […], →OCLC, pages 311–312:[T]here is one claſs of quadrupeds that ſeems entirely left to chance, […] Theſe are the quadrupeds that are brought forth from the egg, ſuch as the lizard, the tortoiſe, and the crocodile. […] [T]he numerous brood of eggs are, vvithout farther ſolicitude, buried in the vvarm ſands of the ſhore, and the heat of the ſun alone is left to bring them to perfection.
*** 1847, William Harvey, “Anatomical Exercises on the Generation of Animals; to which are Added, Essays on Parturition; on the Membranes, and Fluids of the Uterus; and on Conception. [On Animal Generation. Exercise the Twenty-third: Of the Exclusion of the Chick, or the Birth from the Egg.]”, in Robert Willis, transl., The Works of William Harvey, M.D., London: […] Sydenham Society, →OCLC, page 264:The egg is, as we have said, a kind of exposed uterus, and place in which the embryo is fashioned: for it performs the office of the uterus and enfolds the chick until the due time of its exclusion arrive, when the creature is born perfect.A translation of a passage from Harvey’s Exercitationes de generatione animalium (1651).
*** (specifically, countable) The edible egg (sense 1.1) of a domestic fowl such as a duck, goose, or, especially, a chicken; (uncountable) the contents of such an egg or eggs used as food.
    Synonyms: (obsolete) ey, (Castilianism) huevo, (humorous, or in French cooking) oeuf
    We made a big omelette with three eggs. (countable)
    I should determine the minimal amount of egg required to make good mayonnaise. (uncountable)
    The farmer offered me some fresh eggs, but I told him I was allergic to egg. (countable, uncountable)
**** 1566, Apuleius, “The Eleventh Booke”, in William Adlington, transl., The Golden Ass of Apuleius Translated out of Latin […], London: David Nutt […], published 1893, →OCLC, page 239:There after the images and reliques were orderly disposed, the great Priest compassed about with divers pictures according to the fashion of the Ægyptians, did dedicate and consecrate with certaine prayers a fair ship made very cunningly, and purified the same with a torch, an egge, and sulphur; […]
**** c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC,:[T]hey are vp already, and cal for Egges and butter, they vvil avvay preſently.
**** 1665–1667, John Lauder; Lord Fountainhall, “Journal in France 1665–1667”, in Donald Crawford, editor, Journals of Sir John Lauder, Lord Fountainhall, with His Observations on Public Affairs and Other Memoranda 1665–1676 […] (Publications of the Scottish History Society; XXXVI), Edinburgh: […] University Press by T[homas] and A[rchibald] Constable for the Scottish History Society, published May 1900, →OCLC, page 52:I was 5 moneth in France before I saw a boyled or roasted egge.
**** 1732, John Arbuthnot, “Practical Rules of Diet in the Various Constitutions and Diseases of Human Bodies. Chapter I. Of the Different Qualities and Effects of Alimentary Substances. 4. Anti-acid, or Contrary to Acidity or Sourness.”, in An Essay Concerning the Nature of Aliments, and the Choice of Them, According to the Different Constitutions of Human Bodies. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[acob] Tonson […], →OCLC, page 255:Eggs are perhaps the higheſt, moſt nouriſhing and exalted of all animal Food, and moſt indigeſtible, becauſe no body can take and digeſt the ſame Quantity of them as of other Food.
**** 1851 June – 1852 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “An Evening in Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly, volume I, Boston, Mass.: John P[unchard] Jewett & Company; Cleveland, Oh.: Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, published 20 March 1852, →OCLC, page 39:A round, black, shining face is hers, so glossy as to suggest the idea that she might have washed over with white of eggs, like one of her own tea rusks.
*** (by extension, countable) A food item shaped to resemble an egg (sense 1.1.1), such as a chocolate egg.
** (also cytology) Synonym of ovum (“the female gamete of an animal”); an egg cell.
*** 1981, William Irwin Thompson, “Hominization”, in The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture (A Lindisfarne Series Book), New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, part 2 (The Transformations of Prehistory), page 80:In the Fall into the division of labor, [Claude] Lévi-Strauss sees the great hunters trading women to create the exogamous bonds of one hunting band with another. The egg is, but the sperm does. The tiny sperm may be furious in its activity, but its highway to the egg is paved by the alkaline trail set down by the Great Mother.
*** 2013 May-June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist‎, volume 101, number 3, New Haven, Conn.: Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 April 2013, abstract, page 210:Although they serve the same function across the plant, animal and fungal kingdoms, sperm and eggs vary wildly in their structure and biochemistry, even among closely related species. […] Many genes that determine sperm and egg structure and biochemistry are rapidly evolving, constantly changing the chemical environment necessary for the sperm to bind to the egg.
* (countable) A thing which looks like or is shaped like an egg (sense 1.1).
** 1621 August 13 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), Ben Jonson, “The Masque of the Gypsies”, in Q. Horatius Flaccus: His Art of Poetry. […], London: […] J[ohn] Okes, for John Benson […], published 1640, →OCLC, page 84:His ſtomacke vvas queaſie (for comming there Coacht) / The jogging had caus’d ſome crudities riſe; / To help it he call’d for a Puritan poacht, / That uſed to turne up the egg’s of his eyes.Referring to the whites of the eyes.
** 1659 December 30 (date written), Robert Boyle, “[Experiment 20]”, in New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall, Touching the Spring of the Air, and Its Effects, (Made, for the Most Part, in a New Pneumatical Engine) […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] H[enry] Hall, printer to the University, for Tho[mas] Robinson, published 1660, →OCLC, page 144:There vvas taken a great Glaſs-bubble, vvith a long neck; (ſuch as Chymiſts are vvont to call a Philoſophical Egg) vvhich being fill'd vvith common VVater till the Liquor reach'd about a ſpan above the bubble, and a piece of Paper being there paſted on, vvas put unſtop'd into the Receiver, […]
** A swelling on one's head, usually large or noticeable, resulting from an injury.
    Synonym: (Canada, US, informal) goose egg
** (architecture) Chiefly in egg and dart: an ornamental oval moulding alternating in a row with dart or triangular shapes.
** (chiefly sports) A score of zero; specifically (cricket), a batter's failure to score; a duck egg or duck's egg.
    Synonyms: (Canada, US, informal) goose egg, (billiards, racquet sports (especially tennis)) love
** (military, dated) A bomb or mine.
* (countable, figuratively)
** Senses relating to people.
*** (informal, dated) A person; a fellow.
    a bad egg    a good egg    a tough egg    Cheerio, old egg!
**** 1903, Rudyard Kipling, “‘Their Lawful Occasions’—Part II”, in Traffics and Discoveries, London: Macmillan and Co., published 1904, →OCLC, page 138:'Good egg!' quoth Moorshed, and brought his hand down on the wide shoulders with the smack of a beaver's tail.
**** 1910 February, John Galsworthy, Justice: A Tragedy in Four Acts, London: Duckworth and Co. […], published March 1910, →OCLC, Act I, page 15:Walter. The woman we passed as we came in just now. Is it his wife? / Cokeson. No, no relation. [Restraining what in jollier circumstances would have been a wink] A married person, though. […] James. A real bad egg.
**** 1915 September 3, Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, chapter XI, in Something New, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 326:"She isn't going to sue me for breach of promise?" / "She never had any intention of doing so." / The Honorable Freddie sank back on the pillows. / "Good egg!" he said with fervor. He beamed happily. "This," he observed, "is a bit of all right."
**** 1920, John Galsworthy, “On Forsyte ’Change”, in In Chancery (The Forsyte Saga; 2), London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, part I, page 100:They tell me at Timothy's […] that Dartie has gone off at last. That'll be a relief to your father. He was a rotten egg.
**** 1932, Edgar Wallace, Merian C[aldwell] Cooper, novelization by Delos W[heeler] Lovelace, chapter 4, in King Kong, trade softcover edition, Nevada City, Calif.: Underwood Books, published 2005, →ISBN, page 29:Some big, hard-boiled egg meets up with a pretty face, and bingo! He cracks up and melts.
**** 1937 July 24 – September 11, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter I, in Summer Moonshine, 1st UK edition, London: Herbert Jenkins […], published 1938, →OCLC, page 18:"She's a tough egg." / "She must be, if she slung your brother Joe out."
**** 1980, Stephen King, “The Wedding Gig”, in Skeleton Crew (A Signet Book), New York, N.Y.: New American Library, published June 1986, →ISBN, page 259:Up close he looked like a pretty tough egg. His hair was bristling up in the back in spite of what smelled like a whole bottle of Wildroot Creme Oil and he had the flat, oddly shiny eyes that some deep-sea fish have.
*** (derogatory, ethnic slur, rare) A white person considered to be overly infatuated with East Asia.
    Hypernym: race traitor
    Hyponyms: Koreaboo, wapanese, weeaboo, weeb, wumao
*** (Internet slang, derogatory, dated) A user of the microblogging service Twitter identified by the default avatar (historically an image of an egg (sense 1.1.1)) rather than a custom image; hence, a newbie or noob.
*** (transgender slang) A person regarded as having not yet realized they are transgender, who has not yet come out as transgender, or who is in the early stages of transitioning.
**** 2018, Casey Plett, edited by Susan Safyan, Little Fish, Vancouver, B.C.: Arsenal Pulp Press, →ISBN, page 24:That fits, though, she thought. Wear the same outfit day after day, your brain gets numb to how it looks or feels—Wendy shut the album. No. […] She hated analyzing the whys of [not-out] trans girls. She had always hated it, and she hated how easy it had become; the bottomless hole of egg mode.
**** 2020, Grace Lavery, “Egg Theory's Early Style”, in Transgender Studies Quarterly, page 384:So I remember being told, in the very early part of my transition, that I had been, until now, an egg, and—as powerfully rooted in a belief in latency as I found myself[.]
**** (transgender slang, by extension) One's lack of awareness that one is transgender.
    to crack someone's egg (to cause someone to realize that they are transgender)
*** (New Zealand, derogatory) A foolish or obnoxious person.
    Shut up, you egg!
*** (derogatory, obsolete) A young person.
**** c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 145, column 2:VVhat you Egge? / Yong fry of Treachery?
** (archaic) Something regarded as containing a (usually bad) thing at an early stage.
*** a. 1658 (date written), George Daniel, “Trinarchodia. The Raigne of Henry the Fourth.”, in Alexander B[alloch] Grosart, editor, The Poems of George Daniel, Esq. of Beswick, Yorkshire. (1616–1657) from the Original MSS. in the British Museum: Hitherto Unprinted. […], volume IV, Boston, Lincolnshire: […] [Robert Roberts] for private circulation only, published 1878, →OCLC, stanza 348, page 88:[S]oe Power of Warre / From the firſt Egge of Libertie, out-Creepes / A fatall Serpent; […]
*** 1683 June 5 (Gregorian calendar), Roger L’Estrange, “The State of the City of London, in the Late Rebellion. […]”, in The Observator, in Dialogue, volume I, number 345, London: […] J. Bennet, for William Abington, […], →OCLC, page [1], column 1:In ſhort, the Rebellion had been Cruſh'd in the Egg; and One Seaſonable Act of Rigour, had Sav'd the King, the Monarchy, the Church, and the Three Kingdoms.
** (computing) One of the blocks of data injected into a program's address space for use by certain forms of shellcode, such as "omelettes".
*** 2015, Charles Smutz, Angelos Stavrou, “Preventing Exploits in Microsoft Office Documents through Content Randomization”, in Herbert Bos, Fabian Monrose, Gregory Blanc, editors, Research in Attacks, Intrusions, and Defenses: 18th International Symposium, RAID 2015, Kyoto, Japan, November 2–4, 2015: Proceedings (LNCS; 9404; Sublibrary SL4 (Security and Cryptology)), Cham, Switzerland, Heidelberg, Baden-Württemburg: Springer International Publishing, →DOI, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 241:This approach would be altered for an optimal omelette based exploit. One would spray the heap with the omelette code solely, then load a single copy of the additional shellcode eggs into memory outside the target region for the spray.

##### Usage notes

* When the word is used in sense 1.1.1 (“edible egg”) without any qualifying word, it refers to a chicken’s egg.
* The use as in sense 3.1.4 can be sensitive, as regards people who have yet to openly identify as transgender (and possibly even to consider themselves such).

##### Alternative forms

* egge (obsolete)

##### Derived terms

* afteregg
* American hand-egg
* an egg's age
* ant egg
* armadillo egg
* a wild goose never laid a tame egg
* bad egg
* barn egg
* better an egg today than a hen tomorrow
* boiled egg
* butter-and-egg man
* butter-and-egg money
* century egg
* chicken and egg
* chicken-and-egg
* chicken-and-egg problem
* chicken-and-egg question, chicken and egg question, chicken-or-egg question, chicken or egg question
* chicken-and-egg situation
* chicken or egg
* chucky egg
* cloud egg
* cock egg
* coddled egg
* colored egg
* Columbus egg
* cosmic egg
* cracked as an egg
* crack someone's egg
* crack the egg
* cuckoo's egg
* curate's egg
* darning egg
* deviled egg, devilled egg
* dippy egg
* dog egg
* don't put all your eggs in one basket
* dropped egg
* duck egg
* duck-egg blue
* Easter egg
* egg and dart
* egg and spoon race
* eggball
* egg banjo
* egg bank
* egg beater, eggbeater
* egg Benedict
* egg-bird
* egg-bound
* eggbox
* egg bread
* eggburger
* egg burster
* egg butter
* egg carton
* egg case
* egg cell
* eggcellent
* eggceptional
* eggciting
* egg coffee
* eggcorn
* egg-cosy, egg cosy, egg-cozy, egg cozy
* eggcrate
* egg-crated
* egg-crate, egg crate
* egg-crating, egg crating
* egg cream
* eggcup, egg cup
* egg custard
* egg custard tart
* egg cutter
* egg dance
* egg donation
* egg drop
* egg drop soup
* egg-eater
* eggel
* eggery
* eggetarian
* eggette
* egg flip
* egg flower soup
* eggfly
* egg foo young
* eggfruit
* egg fruit
* Egg Harbor
* egghead
* eggheaded
* egg-hot
* egghot
* egg hunt
* eggie
* egg in a basket
* egg in a hole
* egg-in-a-hole
* egg in a nest
* egg in one's beer
* egglayer
* egglaying
* eggless
* egglike
* eggling
* eggman
* eggmass
* egg matza, egg matzah, egg matzo
* egg mayonnaise
* egg moon
* eggnancy
* eggnant
* eggnog, egg nog
* egg noodle
* egg of Columbus
* egg on one's face
* egg pasta
* eggplant, egg-plant
* egg pod
* egg replacer
* egg ring
* egg roll
* egg rolling
* egg sac
* eggsactly
* egg salad
* egg sandwich
* egg-shaped
* eggshell
* eggs in moonshine
* egg slice
* eggsperience
* egg spoon
* eggspot
* egg squash
* eggstraordinary
* eggstravaganza
* eggstring
* egg tart
* eggtimer
* egg-timer, egg timer
* egg tooth
* egg topper
* eggtray
* egg waffle
* egg wash
* egg whisk
* egg-white, egg white
* eggwich
* eggwoman
* egg wrack
* eggy
* eggyolk
* egg yolk
* Faberge egg, Fabergé egg
* fresh country egg
* fried egg
* fried-egg plant
* garden egg
* gashouse egg
* gas-house egg
* golden egg
* golden egg bug
* good egg
* goose egg
* go suck an egg
* guggy egg
* handegg, hand-egg
* hundred-year egg
* jade egg
* kill the goose that lays the golden eggs
* laundry egg
* lay an egg
* long egg
* love egg
* marble egg
* millennium egg
* nest egg
* nonegg
* one's egg breaks
* one's egg cracks
* Orphic egg
* over-egg the pudding
* pace egg, pace-egg
* Pascha egg
* Pasch egg
* paste-egg, paste egg
* philosopher's egg
* pickled egg
* picnic egg
* poached egg
* pouched egg
* power egg
* power-egg
* preserved egg
* put an egg in one's shoe and beat it
* red egg
* robin egg blue, robin's-egg blue
* rolex
* rotten egg
* rotten-egg gas, rotten egg gas
* Russian egg
* salted egg
* scotch egg, Scotch egg
* scrambled egg, scrambled eggs
* scrambled egg slime mold
* smooth as eggs
* son-in-law egg
* steamed egg
* superegg
* sure as eggs is eggs
* tea egg
* there's more than one way to cook an egg
* there's more than one way to crack an egg
* thousand-year egg, thousand-year-old egg
* thunderegg
* thunder egg
* twenty-minute egg
* Ukrainian Easter egg
* vegetable egg
* vegetarian egg
* whore's egg
* wind egg
* witch's egg
* wobbly egg
* world egg
* yoni egg

##### Related terms

* oo-
* oval
* ovo-
* ovum

##### Descendants

* →⇒ German: not the yellow from the egg
* Jamaican Creole: eg
* Sranan Tongo: eksi

##### See also

* caviar
* roe

#### Verb

egg (third-person singular simple present eggs, present participle egging, simple past and past participle egged)
* (transitive)
** To throw (especially rotten) eggs (noun sense 1.1.1) at (someone or something).
    The angry demonstrators egged the riot police.
    The students were caught egging the principal’s car as a prank.
*** 2013 February, M. Golding, “Framing”, in How to Piss Off a Crappy Roommate: From A to Z, [Morrisville, N.C.]: Lulu, →ISBN, page 89:Like I said before in that chapter, after that ultimate egging, Gay-D didn't mention anything about eggs again, but he meekly ask for us to stop egging Xander's door so that he wouldn't get blamed.
** To inadvertently or intentionally distort (the circular cross-section of something, such as tube) to an elliptical or oval shape.
    After I cut the tubing, I found that I had slightly egged it in the vise.
** (cooking) 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.
*** [1833, [Frederick Marryat], chapter I, in Peter Simple. […], volume I, London: Saunders and Otley, […], published 1834, →OCLC, page 8:"Jemima, Jemima!—ve'll ha'e the viting biled instead of fried." "Ca'n't, marm," replied Jemima, "they be all hegged and crumbed, with their tails in their mouths."]
*** 1834, M[arie-]A[ntoine] Carême, edited by John Porter, The Royal Parisian Pastrycook and Confectioner: […], London: F. J. Mason, […], →OCLC, page 163:Then mask another large piece with currant jelly, cover it as before, and after egging the edges, roll them over some coarse sugar, and put them immediately in the oven. Join the remaining pieces in the same manner, two and two, and after egging the edges as before, roll them alternately on pistachios and coarse sugar.
* (intransitive)
** To collect the eggs (noun sense 1.1) of wild birds.
** (England, vulgar, dialectal) To conceive a child, especially recklessly.
    I was out with my girlfriend in Birmingham, when some colorful local told us not to egg.

##### Derived terms

* egger
* egging (noun)
* over-egg

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

From Middle English eggen (“to urge on; to entice, incite, lure, tempt; to encourage, exhort, stimulate; (reflexive) to bestir (oneself); to challenge, taunt; to enrage, irritate”), from Old Norse eggja (“to incite, egg on”), from egg (“an edge”), from Proto-Germanic *agjō (“a corner; an edge”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”).
* Danish ægge, egge (“to incite, egg on; to excite, rouse”)
* Faroese eggja (“to incite, egg on; to sharpen”)
* Icelandic eggja (“to incite, egg on”)
Compare typologically another cognate: Russian поощря́ть (pooščrjátʹ), akin to Russian о́стрый (óstryj), ultimately from the same PIE root.
Also compare typologically noncognate: Bulgarian потиквам (potikvam), Czech nabádat (“urge, exhort”), Russian подстрека́ть (podstrekátʹ).

#### Verb

egg (third-person singular simple present eggs, present participle egging, simple past and past participle egged)
* (transitive, obsolete except in egg on) To encourage, incite, or urge (someone).
    Synonyms: (obsolete) edge, provoke, tempt
** 1571, Arthur Golding, “To the Right Honorable and His Verie Good Lord Edward de Vere Erle of Oxinford, […]”, in John Calvin, translated by Arthur Golding, The Psalmes of Dauid and Others. With M. Iohn Caluin’s Commentaries, London: […] Thomas East and Henry Middelton; for Lucas Harison, and G[e]orge Byshop, →OCLC, 1st part, folio iiij, recto:[Y]it haue vvee one thing in our ſelues and of our ſelues, (euen originall ſinne, concupiſcence or luſt) vvhich neuer ceaſeth too egge vs and allure vs from God, and too ſtaine vs vvith all kinde of vnclennes: […]
** 1603, Matthew Kellison, “The First Chapter Sheweth How the Reformers Take Away Hope of Heauen and Feare of Hell, and Consequently Open the Gapp to All Vice”, in A Survey of the New Religion, Detecting Manie Grosse Absurdities which it Implieth. […], Douai: […] Lawrence Kellam, […], →OCLC, 7th book (Conteineth a Suruey of the New Doctrine Concerning Manners, […]), page 510:Hope like a ſpurre pricketh forvvard, feare like a bridle reſtraineth, hope eggeth onvvard vnto vertue, feare pulleth backe from vice, hope incites vs to obſerue the lavv, feare makes vs feare to trãſgreſſe the lavve.
** 1610 October, John Foxe, Actes and Monuments of Matters Most Speciall and Memorable, Happening in the Church, with an Vniuersall Historie of the Same. […], 6th edition, volume I, London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for the Company of Stationers, →OCLC, book IV, page 299, column 1:Thus time paſſing on, within a yeere following, which was in the yeere of our Lord 1261. the king [Henry III of England] ſeeing himſelfe more and more to grow in debt, and not to bee relieued according to promiſe made, but eſpecially being egged (as may be thought) by his brethren taking it to ſtomach, ſent vp to the pope, both for him and his ſonne Edward to bee releaſed of their oth made before at Oxford.
** 1633, Levine Lemnie [i.e., Levinus Lemnius], “Of the Spirit Universall Generally Inspired into the Whole World, and All the Parts thereof. […]”, in T[homas] N[ewton], transl., The Touchstone of Complexions. […], London: […] E[lizabeth] A[llde] for Michael Sparke, […], →OCLC, pages 34–35:And of them they make tvvo ſorts, the good Angels, and the bad: becauſe the good pricketh a man forvvard, to grace, goodneſſe, vertue, and honeſty: the other eggeth him to levvdneſſe, miſchiefe, ſhame, villany, and all kinde of looſe diſhoneſty.
** 1758, Maphaeus [i.e., Maffeo Vegio], translated by [John Ellis], The Canto Added by Maphæus to Virgil’s Twelve Books of Æneas, from the Original Bombastic, Done into English Hudibrastic; With Notes beneath, and Latin Text in Ev’ry Other Page Annext, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], →OCLC, page 35, lines 227–230:O harpy Love-rule, murd'rous Hag; / Whither doſt thou blind Mortals drag! / 'Tis thou to Battle eggeſt Kings / As well as Louts to Wreſtling-rings; […]
** 1877, William Morris, “Regin Telleth Sigurd of His Kindred, and of the Gold that was Accursed from Ancient Days”, in The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs, London: Ellis and White, […], →OCLC, book II (Regin), page 93:Nought such do I look to be. / But thou, a deedless man, too much thou eggest me: […]
** 1883, “Bersaoglis Vísor, c. 1039. (From the Lives of Kings, especially Kringla, Hulda, Flatey-bok iii. 267–269.)”, in Gudbrand Vigfusson, F[rederick] York Powell, editors, Corpvs Poeticvm Boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue: From the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century […], volume II (Court Poetry), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, book VIII (Christian Court Poetry), § 2 (St. Olaf and Cnut), page 147:Who is egging thee, king, to go back from the oath thou hast sworn? A worthy king of men should be true to his word. It can never beseem thee, my lord, to break thine oath. Who is egging thee, prince, to slaughter the cattle of thy thanes? It is tyranny for a king to do such deed in his own land.

##### Conjugation

$^†$ Archaic or obsolete.

##### Derived terms

* egg on

##### Translations
### References

* ↑ “eg(ge, n.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
* ↑ “egg, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2022; “egg$^1$, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
* ↑ “ei, n.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
* ↑ “egg, v.$^2$”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2022.
* ↑ “eggen, v.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
* ↑ “egg, v.$^1$”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “egg$^2$, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

### Further reading

* egg on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* egging on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* (transgender): Morgan Lev Edward Holleb (2019) The A-Z of Gender and Sexuality: From Ace to Ze, London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, →ISBN, page 98.

### Anagrams

* GGE, Geg, geg

## Faroese
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ɛkː]

### Etymology 1

From Old Norse egg, from Proto-Germanic *ajją, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ōwyóm.

#### Noun

egg n (genitive singular egs, plural egg)
* egg

##### Derived terms

* antaregg
* eggjahvíti
* eggjakoppur
* eggjakøka
* eggjareyði
* eggjaskal
* froskaegg
* gásaregg
* harðkókað egg
* høsnaregg
* páskaregg
* sjokulátuegg
* tjaldursegg

### Etymology 2

From the Old Norse egg, from Proto-Germanic *agjō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp, pointed”).

#### Noun

egg f (genitive singular eggjar, plural eggjar)
* blade, edge
* border, edge of a cliff

##### Declension
## German
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Verb

egg
* singular imperative of eggen
* (colloquial) first-person singular present of eggen

## Icelandic
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈɛkː/
* Rhymes: -ɛkː

### Etymology 1

From Old Norse egg, from Proto-Germanic *ajją, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ōwyóm. Cognate with Old English ǣġ (obsolete English ey); Swedish ägg; Old High German ei (German Ei).

#### Noun

egg n (genitive singular eggs, nominative plural egg)
* (zoology) an egg
* an oval shaped object
* the ovum
    Synonym: eggfruma f

##### Derived terms

* arnaregg (“eagle's egg”)
* álptaregg (“swan's egg”)
* dúfuegg (“dove's egg”)
* eggjahvíta (“egg white”)
* eggjarauða, eggjablómi (“egg yolk”)
* eggjasalad
* eggjaskurn
* hrafnsegg (“raven's egg”)
* höggormsegg (“snake's egg”)
* kríuegg
* liggja á eggjum (“to brood, sit on eggs”)
* páskaegg
* verpa eggi (“to lay an egg”)
* æðaregg (“eider duck's egg”)

##### References

* Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989) Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, →ISBN (Available at Málið.is under the “Eldri orðabækur” tab.)
* Kristín Bjarnadóttir, editor (2002–2025), “egg”, in Beygingarlýsing íslensks nútímamáls [The Database of Modern Icelandic Inflection] (in Icelandic), Reykjavík: The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies
* Mörður Árnason (2019) Íslensk orðabók, 5th edition, Reykjavík: Forlagið
* “egg” in the Dictionary of Modern Icelandic (in Icelandic) and ISLEX (in the Nordic languages)

### Etymology 2

Inherited from Old Norse egg, from Proto-Germanic *agjō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp, pointed”).
Cognates include Old Frisian egg, Old Saxon eggia, Dutch egge; Old English ecg (English edge); Old High German egga (German Ecke); Swedish egg.
The Indo-European root is also the source of Latin aciēs (“edge, sharpness”), Ancient Greek ἀκίς (akís, “point”).

#### Noun

egg f (genitive singular eggjar, nominative plural eggjar)
* (weaponry) the sharp edge of a knife, sword, or similar
    Synonym: blað
    með oddi og eggju ― with all one's might (literally, “with point and edge”)
* (geography) ridge (a sharp edge on a mountain)

##### Declension

$^1$In fixed expressions.

##### Derived terms

* fjallsegg
* með oddi og egg/með oddi og eggju

##### References

* Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989) Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, →ISBN (Available at Málið.is under the “Eldri orðabækur” tab.)
* Kristín Bjarnadóttir, editor (2002–2025), “egg”, in Beygingarlýsing íslensks nútímamáls [The Database of Modern Icelandic Inflection] (in Icelandic), Reykjavík: The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies
* Mörður Árnason (2019) Íslensk orðabók, 5th edition, Reykjavík: Forlagið
* “egg” in the Dictionary of Modern Icelandic (in Icelandic) and ISLEX (in the Nordic languages)

## Middle English
### Noun

egg
* Alternative form of eg (“egg”)

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɛɡ/
* Rhymes: -ɛɡ
* Hyphenation: egg

### Etymology 1

From Old Norse egg n (“egg”), from Proto-Germanic *ajją (“egg”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ōwyóm (“egg”), likely from *h₂éwis (“bird”), possibly from *h₂ew- (“to enjoy, consume”).
Cognate with English egg (“egg”), Icelandic egg (“egg”), Faroese egg (“egg”), Swedish ägg (“egg”), Danish æg (“egg”).

#### Noun

egg n (definite singular egget, indefinite plural egg, definite plural egga or eggene)
* an egg

##### Derived terms

* bløtkokt egg
* eggehvite
* eggekvite
* eggeplomme
* eggerøre
* eggformet
* eggløsning
* eggstokk
* enegget
* hardkokt egg
* kokt egg
* påskeegg
* speilegg

### Etymology 2

From Old Norse egg f.

#### Noun

egg f or m (definite singular egga or eggen, indefinite plural egger, definite plural eggene)
* (cutting) edge (e.g. of a knife)

##### Derived terms

* tveegget

### References

* “egg” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
* “egg_1” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).
* “egg_2” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /eɡː/, /ɛɡː/

### Etymology 1

From Old Norse egg n, from Proto-Germanic *ajją, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ōwyóm. Akin to English egg.

#### Noun

egg n (definite singular egget, indefinite plural egg, definite plural egga)
* an egg

##### Inflection

* Forms in italics are currently considered non-standard.
* Forms in [brackets] were official, but considered second-tier.
* Forms in (parentheses) were allowed under Midlandsnormalen.
* $^1$Nouns were capitalised for most of the 19th century.

##### Derived terms

* eggekvite
* eggeplomme
* eggerøre
* eggstokk
* påskeegg
* speilegg

### Etymology 2

From Old Norse egg f, from Proto-Germanic *agjō f (“edge, corner”), and ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂eḱ-. Cognates include English edge and German Ecke.

#### Noun

egg f or m (definite singular eggen or egga, indefinite plural eggar or egger, definite plural eggane or eggene)
* an edge (the thin cutting side of the blade of an instrument, such as an ax, knife, sword, or scythe)
* (geology) an arête

##### Inflection

* Forms in italics are currently considered non-standard.
* Forms in [brackets] were official, but considered second-tier.
* Forms in (parentheses) were allowed under Midlandsnormalen.
* $^1$Nouns were capitalised for most of the 19th century.

### References

* “egg” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

## Old Norse
### Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *ajją, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ōwyóm.

#### Noun

egg n (genitive eggs, plural egg)
* egg

##### Descendants

* Icelandic: egg
* Faroese: egg
* Norwegian Nynorsk: egg
* Elfdalian: egg
* Old Swedish: æg
** Swedish: ägg
* Scanian: ægg
* Danish: æg
** Norwegian Bokmål: egg
* → Middle English: eg, eeg, egg, egge, egghe, eeg
** English: egg, egge
*** →⇒ German: not the yellow from the egg
*** Jamaican Creole: eg
*** Sranan Tongo: eksi
** Scots: egg
** Yola: egges (plural)

### Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *agjō. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”).

#### Noun

egg f (genitive eggjar, plural eggjar)
* edge (of a blade)

##### Descendants

* Icelandic: egg
* Faroese: egg
* Norwegian Nynorsk: egg
* Dalian: egg
* Old Swedish: eg
** Swedish: egg
* Danish: æg
** Norwegian Bokmål: egg

### Further reading

* Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “egg”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press; also available at the Internet Archive

## Swedish
### Etymology

From Old Norse egg, from Proto-Germanic *agjō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp, pointed”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɛɡː/
* Homophone: ägg

### Noun

egg c
* The sharp edge of a cutting tool.

#### Related terms

* egga (“to stimulate; to encourage somebody to do a specific action”)
* eggelse
* eggjärn
* eggredskap
* eggskydd
* eggstål
* eggvapen
* eggvass
* eggverktyg
* knivsegg
* yxegg

### References

* egg in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* egg in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)