goose egg

noun

"goose-egg" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“goose 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
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Zero; nothing.

Corpus desk

Index EN-goose-egg · goose egg · English

goose egg · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "G" 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.

Key facts for goose egg
PropertyValue
Headwordgoose egg
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “goose egg” in English

goose eggsits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

goose egg is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for goose egg, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From the oval shape of both a goose's egg and the Arabic numeral zero (0). The correct English form is goose egg, spelled G-O-O-S-E- -E-G-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    Zero; nothing.
  2. 2
    A swelling caused by a bump on the head.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how goose egg appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. I missed every question on the quiz and got a goose egg.
  2. Grandmaster and grand duffer alike prefer the all-important point to the ignominious goose egg.

Etymology

From the oval shape of both a goose's egg and the Arabic numeral zero (0).

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "goose egg"?
"goose egg" is spelled G-O-O-S-E- -E-G-G.
What does "goose egg" mean?
As a noun, "goose egg" means: Zero; nothing.
What is the origin of the word "goose egg"?
From the oval shape of both a goose's egg and the Arabic numeral zero (0). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list