Origin

The character combines two instances of the component 卯 (which represents a rabbit or sprouting plant) with a dot in the middle. While the exact origin is unclear, this appears to reflect an early attempt to depict something round and enclosed—the shape of an egg itself. The repetition of similar enclosed forms may have been meant to emphasize the oval, vessel-like quality of an egg, which holds new life inside. Over time, this visual description became the standard written form for the word "egg" in Japanese and Chinese.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).