Etymograph

English

good egg

Good egg may come from English egg ‘someone whose behaviour is reprehensible or…’.

  1. English1500–presentegg‘someone whose behaviour is reprehensible or irresponsible’uncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1915good egg

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. English1500–presentegg‘someone whose behaviour is reprehensible or irresponsible’uncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1915good egg

Earliest quotation: 1915, Good Housekeeping, New York: “The chemist and the bacteriologist gave him the third…”

Made of the words good + egg

Proto-Indo-European *gʰedʰ- ‘to unite, be associated, suit’

Proto-Germanic *gōdaz ‘good’

Proto-West Germanic *gōd ‘good’

Old English gōd ‘good’

Middle English good

English good

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ōwyóm ‘egg’

Proto-Germanic *ajją ‘egg’

Old Norse egg ‘egg’

Middle English eg ‘egg of a domestic or wild fowl’

English egg

first attested The earliest known usage of the phrase was by Rudyard Kipling in his 1904 book "Traffics & Discoveries": "'Good egg!' quoth Moorshed, and brought his hand down on the wide shoulders with the smack of a beaver's tail (as stated in the etymology)

The story

The earliest known usage of the phrase was by Rudyard Kipling in his 1904 book "Traffics & Discoveries": "'Good egg!' quoth Moorshed, and brought his hand down on the wide shoulders with the smack of a beaver's tail."

Every English word from English egg

Today it means

noun A good person, someone to be trusted; a friend.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / English egg / good egg

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