ZHIZHI 知止 · LEARN CHINESE DAILY

egg

dàn
11 strokes · 疋 (roll/foot) + 虫 (insect/creature) — the round thing creatures come from · HSK 2

Where 蛋 comes from

虫 at the bottom marks 蛋 as biology: the package every small creature hatches from. The character is young by Chinese standards — a latecomer that displaced the older 卵 in everyday speech because eggs, like the word, are daily goods.

蛋 in Chinese culture

茶叶蛋 tea eggs perfume every convenience store; 番茄炒蛋 tomato-scrambled-eggs is the first dish every Chinese student abroad learns to cook — the taste of home in eight minutes. 蛋 also does insult duty: 笨蛋 'stupid egg', 坏蛋 'bad egg', 完蛋 'finished egg' (doomed).

Example

鸡蛋 jīdàn — chicken egg

我早饭吃了两个鸡蛋。
Wǒ zǎofàn chī le liǎng ge jīdàn.
I had two eggs for breakfast.

How to remember it

The round bundle 疋 every creature 虫 starts inside — an EGG.

脸红得像鸡蛋 isn't a thing, but 滚蛋 'roll, egg!' is — the rudest way to say 'get lost' involves telling someone to roll away like an egg.

Same sound, different tones

1st dān
single
3rd dǎn
gallbladder
4th dàn
egg

Words unlocked by 蛋

鸡蛋 jīdàn
egg
笨蛋 bèndàn
fool
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One character a morning · 169-character HSK library · iOS