Chinese word

蛋

Pronunciation

Pinyindàn

Meaning

  • nounegg

Example

冰箱里还有两个蛋。bīng xiāng lǐ hái yǒu liǎng gè dàn

There are still two eggs in the refrigerator.

Illustration for 蛋 (egg)

More examples

每天早餐我都吃一个鸡蛋。měi tiān zǎo cān wǒ dōu chī yí gè jī dàn

Every day I eat one chicken egg for breakfast.

Core concept

A rounded egg produced by a bird or another animal, whether it becomes food or a new animal.

Common phrases

  • 鸡蛋jī dàn

    chicken egg

  • 煮鸡蛋zhǔ jī dàn

    boiled egg

  • 炒鸡蛋chǎo jī dàn

    scrambled egg

Similar words

鸡蛋jī dàn: An ordinary chicken egg for eating, cooking, or buying.

Definition in Chinese

指鸟类等产下的可供食用的卵，也可泛指动物的卵。zhǐ niǎo lèi děng chǎn xià de kě gōng shí yòng de luǎn yě kě fàn zhǐ dòng wù de luǎn

Word origin

蛋 (dàn, "egg") uses 虫 (chóng, "insect") + 疋 (pǐ, "piece of cloth"); the first part links the character to animals, and the second mainly marks its pronunciation.

Usage tips

  • When ordinary conversation means a chicken egg, 鸡蛋 (jīdàn, "chicken egg") is more specific than 蛋 (dàn, "egg"); 两个鸡蛋 (liǎng ge jīdàn, "two chicken eggs") uses 个 (gè, "general measure word").

Related words

  • 蛋糕dàn gāocakenoun
  • 蛋白dàn báiegg whitenoun
  • 蛋黄dàn huángegg yolknoun

Word lists with this word