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PlainSpell

egg

/ɛɡ/noun, verb

egg is spelled E-G-G: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 29 times per million words in written English, the 3,218th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, egg means “An approximately spherical or ellipsoidal body produced by birds, insects, reptiles, and other animals, often housing an embryo within a membrane or…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of egg is eggs.

How many letters and syllables are in egg?

Letters3: E-G-G
Syllables1
In writing29 times per million words; the 3,218th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is egg?

Egg appears 29 times per million words in written English, the 3,218th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce egg?

  • /ɛɡ/
  • [ɛɡ]
  • /(j)ɛɡ/

Egg has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-egg.ogg, En-us-egg.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with egg

Sounds like: Eigg (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: agg.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with egg?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as egg.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: geg.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of egg

  • eggs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • egging participle, present
  • egged participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does egg mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 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.

  2. 2

    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.

    We made a big omelette with three eggs for breakfast.

  3. 3

    A food item shaped to resemble an egg (sense 1.1.1), such as a chocolate egg.

  4. 4

    Synonym of ovum (“the female gamete of an animal”); an egg cell.

  5. 5

    A thing which looks like or is shaped like an egg (sense 1.1).

  6. 6

    A swelling on one's head, usually large or noticeable, resulting from an injury.

  7. 7

    Chiefly in egg and dart: an ornamental oval moulding alternating in a row with dart or triangular shapes.

  8. 8

    A score of zero; specifically (cricket), a batter's failure to score; a duck egg or duck's egg.

verb

  1. 1

    To throw (especially rotten) eggs (noun sense 1.1.1) at (someone or something).

    The angry demonstrators egged the riot police.

  2. 2

    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.

  3. 3

    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.

  4. 4

    To collect the eggs (noun sense 1.1) of wild birds.

  5. 5

    vulgarTo conceive a child, especially recklessly.

    I was out with my girlfriend in Birmingham, when some colorful local told us not to egg.

  6. 6

    To encourage, incite, or urge (someone).

noun

as EGG
  1. 1

    Initialism of electroglottography.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Egg in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchœuf (approximately spherical or ellipsoidal body…), egg (person regarded as having not yet realized they…), jeter des oeufs (to throw (rotten) eggs at (someone or something))
GermanEi, aai, oa (approximately spherical or ellipsoidal body…), anfeuern, anstacheln, antreiben (to encourage, incite, or urge (someone) – see…)
Portugueseovo (approximately spherical or ellipsoidal body…), jogar ovos em (to throw (rotten) eggs at (someone or something)), oval (thing which looks like or is shaped like an egg), inchaço, galo (swelling on one’s head resulting from an injury)
Spanishhuevo, aguautle, ahuautle, aguaucle (approximately spherical or ellipsoidal body…), lanzar huevos a (to throw (rotten) eggs at (someone or something)), chichón (swelling on one’s head resulting from an injury)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does egg come from?

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.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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