egg

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 卵 means egg; its kun-reading is たまご and its on-reading is らん.
• Basic usage: 卵 can refer both to an egg eaten at breakfast and to a bird's egg in a nest.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Meaning and reading of 生
  • 生卵 is read なまたまご and means an uncooked egg. The initial 生 is read なま in this word.
• Counting 卵
  • 卵を二つ indicates two eggs. Here 二つ, read ふたつ, is the quantity expression.