Word: egg Part of Speech: noun 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. Pronunciation: /ˈɛɡ/, [ˈɛɡ], /ˈ(j)ɛɡ/, /ˈeɪ̯ɡ/, [ˈeɪ̯ɡ] 1. 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. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: The Eſtrich (whoſe fethers are fayrer thẽ yᵉ 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. Example: [T]hinke him as a Serpents egge, / VVhich hatch'd, vvould as his kinde grovv mischieuous; / And kill him in the ſhell. 2. 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. Labels: countable, specifically Example: We made a big omelette with three eggs for breakfast. Example: I should determine the minimal amount of egg required to make good mayonnaise. 3. 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. Labels: broadly, countable 4. Synonym of ovum (“the female gamete of an animal”); an egg cell. Labels: also, countable, uncountable Example: 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. Example: 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. 5. A thing which looks like or is shaped like an egg (sense 1.1). Labels: countable Example: 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. Example: 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, […] 6. A thing which looks like or is shaped like an egg (sense 1.1). Labels: countable, uncountable 7. A thing which looks like or is shaped like an egg (sense 1.1). Labels: countable, uncountable 8. A thing which looks like or is shaped like an egg (sense 1.1). Labels: countable, uncountable 9. A thing which looks like or is shaped like an egg (sense 1.1). Labels: countable, dated, uncountable 10. A thing which looks like or is shaped like an egg (sense 1.1). Labels: countable, uncountable 11. A thing which looks like or is shaped like an egg (sense 1.1). Labels: countable, uncountable Example: But Olga continued to work through her large bucket of balls. Ninety percent of them came to rest in exactly the same spot—dead center, between 150 and 175 yards. So tightly bunched were her balls out there it looked like someone had overturned a bucket of eggs. 12. Senses relating to people. Labels: countable, dated, figuratively, informal, uncountable Example: a bad egg a good egg a tough egg Cheerio, old egg! Example: 'Good egg!' quoth Moorshed, and brought his hand down on the wide shoulders with the smack of a beaver's tail. 13. Senses relating to people. Labels: countable, derogatory, ethnic, figuratively, rare, slur, uncountable 14. Senses relating to people. Labels: Internet, countable, dated, derogatory, figuratively, uncountable 15. Senses relating to people. Labels: countable, figuratively, uncountable Example: 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. Example: 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[.] 16. Senses relating to people. Labels: broadly, countable, figuratively, uncountable Example: to crack someone's egg 17. Senses relating to people. Labels: New-Zealand, countable, derogatory, figuratively, uncountable Example: Shut up, you egg! 18. Senses relating to people. Labels: countable, derogatory, figuratively, obsolete, uncountable Example: VVhat you Egge? / Yong fry of Treachery? 19. Something regarded as containing a (usually bad) thing at an early stage. Labels: archaic, countable, figuratively, uncountable Example: [S]oe Power of Warre / From the firſt Egge of Libertie, out-Creepes / A fatall Serpent; […] Example: 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. 20. One of the blocks of data injected into a program's address space for use by certain forms of shellcode, such as "omelettes". Labels: countable, figuratively, uncountable Example: 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.