nest egg

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"nest-egg" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“nest 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
8
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A natural or artificial egg placed in a bird's nest, to encourage the bird to lay its own eggs there.

Key facts for nest egg
PropertyValue
Headwordnest egg
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters8
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “nest egg” sits in English frequency

nest egg falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Rare enough to double-check

nest egg is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

nest egg has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is nest egg, spelled N-E-S-T- -E-G-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    A natural or artificial egg placed in a bird's nest, to encourage the bird to lay its own eggs there.
  2. 2
    A saving; a reserve of money.
  3. 3
    An egg squash.

This word in other languages

ahorros(Español)bas de laine(Français)Notgroschen(Deutsch)andês(Português)

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 "nest egg"?
"nest egg" is spelled N-E-S-T- -E-G-G.
What does "nest egg" mean?
As a noun, "nest egg" means: A natural or artificial egg placed in a bird's nest, to encourage the bird to lay its own eggs there.
What language does "nest egg" come from?
"nest egg" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Using “nest egg”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is N-E-S-T- -E-G-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list