雞蛋 / 鸡蛋
jīdàn
Egg in Chinese, meaning a hen's egg as food, is 雞蛋 / 鸡蛋 (jīdàn). If unsure, use 雞蛋 / 鸡蛋. Wiktionary also lists 蛋 (dàn).
Meaning: edible egg of a domestic fowl, the contents of such an egg or eggs used as food (noun)
Ways to say it
| Chinese | Romanization (Wiktionary) | IPA | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 雞蛋 / 鸡蛋 | jīdàn | ||
| 蛋 | dàn | /tän⁵¹/ (Mandarin, Standard Chinese, Sinological IPA) /tan²¹³/ (Mandarin, Chengdu, Sinological IPA) |
|
| 卵 | nn̄g | /nŋ̍²²/ (Min Nan, Hokkien, Xiamen, Taipei, Kaohsiung, Tainan, Kinmen, Taichung, Singapore, Sinological IPA, Sanxia, Magong, Hsinchu) /nŋ̍³³/ (Min Nan, Hokkien, Xiamen, Taipei, Kaohsiung, Tainan, Kinmen, Taichung, Singapore, Sinological IPA, Sanxia, Magong, Hsinchu) |
Hokkien |
| 雞卵 / 鸡卵 | ke-nn̄g, kue-nn̄g | Hokkien |
雞蛋 / 鸡蛋 is the everyday word for a chicken egg, the kind you buy and cook.
What does it mean word for word?
雞 or 鸡 means chicken and 蛋 means egg. The first spelling is traditional and the second simplified.
Which one should you use?
蛋 (dàn) on its own means egg in general and is common when it is clear what kind of egg you mean.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Hokkien an egg is 卵 or 雞卵 / 鸡卵. In Dungan the words are дан and җидан.
How do you pronounce it?
It is pronounced jīdàn, with a high level tone and then a falling tone.
Did you know?
- In Chinese, the word 蛋 is used in several common insults to describe a person as useless, cowardly or foolish.
- In colloquial Chinese, the term for 'testicles' is 蛋蛋, which literally translates to 'egg eggs'.
- Some theories suggest 卵 derives from a Proto-Sino-Tibetan root meaning 'nit' or 'egg of a louse'.
Examples in context
- 湯姆在蛋上撒鹽。Tom salted his egg.蛋 on its own is enough here because the meaning is clear.Tatoeba #6065736 by verdastelo9604, translation #2886733 by CK
- 我女儿喜欢蛋黄。My daughter likes egg yolks.蛋黄 means egg yolk, literally egg yellow.Tatoeba #8501411 by maxine, translation #251968 by CK
- 我去用鍋煎一個蛋。I am going to fry an egg in a pan.一個蛋 means one egg, with 個 as the counting word.Tatoeba #6959618 by xjjAstrus, translation #7767810 by sharris123
- 25 more sentences on Tatoeba
Sources
- Wiktionary, “egg” translations and entries 蛋, 卵, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries 卵, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
