Easter egg
/ˈiː.stəɹ ˌɛɡ/
"easter-egg" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Easter egg” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A dyed or decorated egg, traditionally associated with Easter and, in the Western European tradition, sometimes hidden for children to find.
Corpus desk
Index EN-easter-egg · Easter egg · English
Easter egg · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "E" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Easter egg |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈiː.stəɹ ˌɛɡ/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “Easter egg” in English
Rare enough to double-check
Easter egg is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈiː.stəɹ ˌɛɡ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
Easter egg doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Easter + egg. Cognate with German Low German Ooosterei (“Easter egg”), Middle High German ōsterei ("Easter egg"; > modern German Osterei). So called because eggs would be eaten during Easter to break the fasting during Lent. (No eggs, dairy, meat excep… The correct English form is Easter egg, spelled E-A-S-T-E-R- -E-G-G.
Definition
- 1A dyed or decorated egg, traditionally associated with Easter and, in the Western European tradition, sometimes hidden for children to find.
- 2A chocolate confection in the shape of an egg, sometimes with chocolates or sweets inside.
- 3An undocumented function hidden in a program or video game, typically triggered by a particular input sequence or combination of keystrokes.
- 4Any image, feature, or other content that is hidden on a video disc or in a movie, trailer, or poster.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how Easter egg appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Because eggs were inexpensive in most regions, the practice of decorating Easter eggs crossed all social classes and remained somewhat simple.
I reached the first fork in the tree and there they lay—several melted Easter eggs[…] Quickly I tore open the foil and licked the melted chocolate until there wasn't a trace left on the paper.
Etymology
From Easter + egg. Cognate with German Low German Ooosterei (“Easter egg”), Middle High German ōsterei ("Easter egg"; > modern German Osterei). So called because eggs would be eaten during Easter to break the fasting during Lent. (No eggs, dairy, meat except fish, lard, or foods containing these ingredients could be eaten during Lent.) The computing sense is from the early 1980s, popularized by the video game Adventure.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.