卵

See also: 卯 and 卬

Translingual

Etymology

Ideogram (指事), likely testicles – some seal characters clearly interpret this as loins. Compare development of 母 from breasts.

Han character

卵 (radical 26 卩+5, 7 strokes, cangjie input 竹竹尸中戈 (HHSLI), four-corner 7772₀, composition ⿰𠂑卪)

1. egg
2. ovum
3. roe
4. spawn

See also

• 蛋
• 鮞
• 鯤
• 鲕
• 鲲

References

• KangXi: page 159, character 20
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 2857
• Dae Jaweon: page 365, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 313, character 4
• Unihan data for U+5375

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Cantonese

Hanzi

卵 (Yale leun5)

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Japanese

Wikipedia ^ja

Wikipedia

Kanji

卵

(grade 6 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. an egg

Readings

• On: らん (ran)
• Kun: たまご (tamago)

Compounds

• 卵黄 (らんおう, ran'ō): yolk
• 卵殻 (らんかく, rankaku): eggshell
• 卵子 (らんし, ranshi): ovum
• 卵生 (らんせい, ransei): oviparity
• 卵巣 (らんそう, ransō): ovary
• 卵白 (らんぱく, ranpaku): albumen
• 卵焼, 卵焼き (たまごやき, tamagoyaki): omelet, fried eggs

Etymology

卵

Compound of 玉 (tama, “ball”) +‎ 子 (ko, “child, small thing”). The final ko voices to go due to rendaku (連濁).

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• IPA^(key): /ta.ma.go/, [tämägo̞], [tämäŋo̞]

Alternative forms

• 玉子

Noun

卵 (hiragana たまご, romaji tamago)

1. an egg

   This term in Japanese is nearly as broad in use as English egg, indicating an egg as laid by various oviparous organisms, and egg as used in cooking. For the more specific biological sense of ovum, see 卵子 (ranshi).

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Korean

Hanja

卵 (ran) (hangeul 란, revised ran, McCune-Reischauer ran)

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Mandarin

Hanzi

卵 (Pinyin luǎn (luan3), Wade-Giles luan³)

Compounds

• 卵白
• 卵巢
• 卵黄
• 卵块
• 卵裂
• 卵泡
• 卵生
• 卵石
• 卵胎生
• 卵细胞
• 卵翼
• 卵用鸡
• 卵子

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Vietnamese

Han character

卵 (noãn)