Easter egg

See also: easter egg and Easter Egg

English

WOTD – 15 November 2013

A basket of Easter eggs

Etymology

From Easter +‎ egg. Cognate with German Low German Ooosterei (“Easter egg”), Middle High German ōsterei ("Easter egg"; > modern German Osterei).

So called because eggs would be eaten during Easter to break the fasting during Lent. (No eggs, dairy, meat except fish, lard, or foods containing these ingredients could be eaten during Lent.)

The computing sense is from the early 1980s, popularized by the video game Adventure.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈiː.stəɹ ˌɛɡ/
Audio (AU) (file)

Noun

Easter egg (plural Easter eggs)

A dyed or decorated egg, traditionally associated with Easter and, in the Western European tradition, sometimes hidden for children to find.
- 2009, Ace Collins, chapter 23, in Stories Behind the Traditions and Songs of Easter:
  Because eggs were inexpensive in most regions, the practice of decorating Easter eggs crossed all social classes and remained somewhat simple.
A chocolate confection in the shape of an egg, sometimes with chocolates or sweets inside.
- 2008, Christel Behnke Gehlert, Recollections of a Hamburger: Growing Up German, 1941-1962, page 143:
  I reached the first fork in the tree and there they lay—several melted Easter eggs […] Quickly I tore open the foil and licked the melted chocolate until there wasn't a trace left on the paper.
(computing, video games) An undocumented function hidden in a program or video game, typically triggered by a particular input sequence or combination of keystrokes. [from 1980s]
an Easter egg that displays the names of the application's development team
- 2011, Myint Swe Khine, Learning to Play: Exploring the Future of Education with Video Games, page 59:
  Once found, the Easter egg will often enable the player to traverse through the game much more rapidly the second time around.
(by extension) Any image, feature, or other content that is hidden on a video disc or in a movie, trailer, or poster.
- 2004, Michael Burns & George Cairns, Designing DVD Menus: How to Create Professional-Looking DVDs
  For the Best of Bowie DVD release, APl even concealed an Easter egg within a hidden extra.
- 2008, Jon Lachonis & Amy Johnston, chapter 16, in "Lost" Ate My Life: The Inside Story of a Fandom Like No Other:
  The repeated appearance of a number as an Easter egg is not a new concept for J.J., Burky or those other members of Lost Labs who previously worked on Alias.
- 2023 January 13, Nick Haramis, “When Did We All Become Pop Culture Detectives?”, in The New York Times‎, ISSN 0362-4331:
  Unlike an allusion — a tip of the hat to a previous work — an Easter egg, when found, is an anachronistic disruption, an anti-mimetic breaking of the fourth wall to make room for a joke, clue or grievance.

Synonyms

(decorated egg): pysanka, Ukrainian Easter egg
Pasch egg (obsolete)

Derived terms

Easter egg hunt

Translations

a dyed or decorated egg

Afrikaans: paasei
Arabic: بَيْضَة عِيد اَلْفِصْح‎ f (bayḍat ʿīd al-fiṣḥ), بَيْضَة اَلْفِصْح‎ f (bayḍat al-fiṣḥ)
Armenian: զատկի ձու (zatki ju)
Belarusian: веліко́днае я́йка n (vjelikódnaje jájka)
Bulgarian: великденско яйце́ n (velikdensko jajcé)
Catalan: ou de Pasqua (ca) m
Chinese:
Cantonese: 復活蛋, 复活蛋 (fuk⁶ wut⁶ daan^6-2)
Mandarin: 復活節彩蛋／复活节彩蛋 (zh) (Fùhuójié cǎidàn)
Czech: kraslice (cs) f, velikonoční vejce n
Danish: påskeæg (da) n
Dutch: paasei (nl) n
Esperanto: paska ovo
Estonian: lihavõttemuna (et)
Faroese: páskaegg n
Finnish: pääsiäismuna (fi)
French: œuf de Pâques (fr) m
Galician: ovo de Pascua m
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: Osterei (de) n
Greek: πασχαλινό αβγό n (paschalinó avgó)
Hungarian: húsvéti tojás (hu)
Hunsrik: Oostreeu n
Icelandic: páskaegg (is) n
Indonesian: telur Paskah
Irish: ubh Chásca f, clúdóg f (batch of Easter eggs), cúbóg f (batch of Easter eggs)
Italian: uovo di Pasqua (it) m
Japanese: イースター・エッグ (īsutā-eggu)
Korean: 부활절 달걀 (buhwaljeol dalgyal)
Luxembourgish: Ouschteree (lb) n
Macedonian: велигденско јајце n (veligdensko jajce)
Malay: telur Easter
Maltese: Bajda ta' l-Għid f
Norwegian:
Bokmål: påskeegg (no) n
Nynorsk: påskeegg n
Polish: jajko wielkanocne n, (dyed) pisanka (pl) f, (dyed) kraszanka (pl) f
Portuguese: ovo de Páscoa (pt)
Romanian: ou de Paști n
Russian: пасха́льное яйцо́ (ru) n (pasxálʹnoje jajcó)
Scottish Gaelic: ugh na Càisge f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ускршње јаје n, писаница f
Roman: uskršnje jaje n, pisanica (sh) f
Slovak: kraslica f, veľkonočné vajce n
Slovene: pirh m, velikonôčno jájce n, písanica f, pisanka f
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: jatšowne jajo n
Spanish: huevo de Pascua m
Swedish: påskägg (sv)
Thai: ไข่อีสเตอร์ (kài-íis-dtə̂ə)
Turkish: paskalya yumurtası (tr)
Ukrainian: пасха́льне яйце́ n (pasxálʹne jajcé), велико́днє яйце́ n (velykódnje jajcé), пи́санка f (pýsanka)
Vietnamese: trứng Phục Sinh
Welsh: ŵy Pasg m

a chocolate confection in the shape of an egg

Chinese:
Cantonese: 復活蛋, 复活蛋 (fuk⁶ wut⁶ daan^6-2)
Danish: påskeæg (da) n
Dutch: paasei (nl) n, chocolade-ei n
Finnish: suklaamuna, pääsiäismuna (fi)
German: Osterei (de) n, Schokoei n (not necessarily related to Easter)
Greek: πασχαλινό αβγό n (paschalinó avgó)
Icelandic: páskaegg (is) n
Italian: uovo di Pasqua (it) m
Luxembourgish: Ouschteree (lb) n
Norwegian:
Bokmål: sjokoladeegg n, påskeegg (no) n
Nynorsk: sjokoladeegg n, påskeegg n
Scottish Gaelic: ugh na Càisge m
Swedish: påskägg (sv) n

an undocumented function hidden in a program

Catalan: ou de pasqua m
Finnish: pääsiäismuna (fi)
German: Easter Egg n
Marathi: ईस्टर एग m (īsṭar eg)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: påskeegg (no) n
Nynorsk: påskeegg n
Polish: easter egg (pl) m
Russian: пасха́льное яйцо́ (ru) n (pasxálʹnoje jajcó), пасха́лка (ru) f (pasxálka) (informal)
Swedish: påskägg (sv) n

image, feature, or other content that is hidden on a video disc or in a movie

Catalan: ou de pasqua m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 彩蛋 (zh)
Esperanto: kaŝitaĵo
German: Easter Egg n
Italian: Easter egg m
Norwegian:
Bokmål: påskeegg (no) n
Nynorsk: påskeegg n
Polish: easter egg (pl) m
Russian: пасхалка (ru) (pasxalka)
Swedish: påskägg (sv) n

Anagrams

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