蛋

Stroke order

蛋 (Kangxi radical 142, 虫+5, 11 strokes, cangjie input 弓人中一戈 (NOLMI), four-corner 1713₆, composition ⿱疋虫)

• 𡐆, 𢳱, 𣼈, 𬿷, 𥕨, 𦄦, 𮕊, 𰳢

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1081, character 11
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 32977
• Dae Jaweon: page 1549, character 5
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2845, character 18
• Unihan data for U+86CB

Wikipedia has articles on:

• 蛋 (Wu)
• 蛋 (Cantonese)
• 蛋 (Written Standard Chinese^?)

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l'aːns) : phonetic 延 (OC *lan, *lans) + semantic 虫 (“snake, insect”). Hence, the non-contracted form is 蜑. It means "egg", with a reference to snake eggs. In the current version, 延 is abbreviated to 疋.

This character was coined at a late stage in Chinese, since it is unattested on oracle bones, bronzes, Shuowen Jiezi and Guangyun.

From 彈 (MC danH, “pellet”) (Zhengzhang, 2003).

蛋

1. egg (Classifier: 顆／颗 m; 隻／只 c)

   雞蛋／鸡蛋  ―  jīdàn  ―  chicken egg

   蛋殼／蛋壳  ―  dànké  ―  eggshell

2. egg-shaped object

   跳蛋  ―  tiàodàn  ―  love egg

3. (slang) ball; testicle
4. suffix denoting “person of certain characteristics”, usually with a pejorative tone

   傻蛋  ―  shǎdàn  ―  goofball

   笨蛋  ―  bèndàn  ―  fool

5. zero score; goose egg

   零蛋  ―  língdàn  ―  score of zero

6. Alternative form of 蜑 (dàn)

Occasionally spelled with the character 旦 instead, especially in the menus of cha chaan tengs, as it is faster to write when taking orders).

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

蛋

1. (Southern Min) unlaid egg of a fowl

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. (uncommon) an egg

• Go-on: だん (dan)
• Kan-on: たん (tan)
• Kun: たまご (tamago, 蛋)

Seldom used in Japanese. Not used in isolation.

The egg sense and tamago reading is more commonly spelled either 玉子 or 卵.

蛋 • (dan) (hangeul 단)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

蛋: Hán Nôm readings: đản

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.