Eggshell

//ˈɛɡʃɛl// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The shell around an egg. countable, uncountable

    "Like Egge-ſhels mou'd upon their Surges, crack'd / As eaſily ’gainſt our Rockes."

  2. 2
    the exterior covering of a bird's egg wordnet
  3. 3
    A pale off-white colour, like that of the eggshell of many chickens. countable, uncountable
Adjective
  1. 1
    Of a pale yellowish-whitish colour, like that of the eggshell.

    "The ceiling panels are in off-white eggshell semi-matt finish."

  2. 2
    Exhibiting the thinness, translucency or near-transparency, and fragility of an eggshell.

    "eggshell porcelain"

  3. 3
    Very matt, having a low reflexivity, like an eggshell.

    "This clear varnish is available in gloss, matt and eggshell finishes."

Synonyms

All synonyms
alabasteralabastrinealbescentalbumenbubblecaviar

Example

More examples

"Make sure no eggshell fragments end up in the batter after you crack an egg."

Etymology

From Middle English eggeshell, ege schelle, egg-shel, egg shelle (also as Middle English eye schell, ey-schel, ey-schelle), partially continuing Old English ǣġsċill, ǣġsċyll (“eggshell”), equivalent to egg + shell. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Oaierskil (“eggshell”), Dutch eierschaal (“eggshell”), German Eierschale (“eggshell”), Danish æggeskal (“eggshell”), Swedish äggskal (“eggshell”).

Related phrases

eggshell blueeggshell rulewalk on eggshellsoff white

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.