<p>Chicken egg is 鸡蛋 and Bird egg is 鸟蛋.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-02T16:12:33.560Z
2017-02-02T16:12:33.560Z
z.jianan
<p>鸡蛋 is a specific term.
鸟蛋 is a general term.</p>

<p>When we know what kind of bird it is, we use a specific term.
Otherwise, we use a general term.</p>

<p>For example, we call the eggs of 鸭 (duck), 鸽子 (dove), or 鹌鹑 (quail) as 鸭蛋, 鸽子蛋, or 鹌鹑蛋.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-29T10:16:07.613Z
2017-01-29T10:16:07.613Z
user3a
<p>I am learning Chinese with Rosetta Stone software and it is based on guessing the sense of words by pictures. </p>

<p>And I can't guess the difference between various types of "eggs".</p>

<p>When I see normal, probably hen's egg, they write</p>

<p>一个鸡蛋</p>

<p>but when I see some other types of eggs, they can write</p>

<p>一个鸟蛋</p>

<p>In these cases eggs are probably from different birds, not hens.</p>

<p>So what is the difference? Only bird genus or something else?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-29T10:04:03.497Z
bkrs: 
鸡蛋(hen's) egg:
炒鸡蛋 scrambed eggs
煎鸡蛋 fried eggs
煮鸡蛋 hard-boiled eggs
鸟蛋 bird's eggs e.g. 掏鸟蛋
take bird’s eggs out of a nest, thus it appears 蛋 is a bound morpheme
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-29T10:32:46.977Z
re: "Only bird genus", crocodile egg 鳄鱼蛋,
 卵 ovum； egg； spawn；e.g. turtle egg, 鳖卵, toad egg 蟾蜍的卵,fish roe 鱼卵, spider egg 蜘蛛卵
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-29T11:07:19.520Z
re: toad: 俗称  **癞蛤蟆**
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-29T18:55:52.777Z
biological term for egg is 卵, in the case of birds／鸟类 and reptiles 爬行动物（或称爬行类、爬虫类）it is called 蛋 with respectively hard (and brittle/脆) or rubbery shells “硬壳”/“革壳”(this suggests turtle egg in comment #2 should be  鳖蛋 (s.e.g. baike on 甲鱼(soft-shelled turtle)蛋)
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-03-21T11:14:06.137Z
The character 蛋 in Chinese like **egg** in English, which refers to all types of eggs in broad sense, or refers hen's eggs in narrow sense. Generally, we generally say 蛋 or **egg** for hen's egg, but we can also say hen's eggs, duck's egg, bird's egg.
xenophōn
<meaning><difference>
What is the difference between 鸡蛋 and 鸟蛋?
# What is the difference between 鸡蛋 and 鸟蛋?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-01-29)

I am learning Chinese with Rosetta Stone software and it is based on guessing the sense of words by pictures.

And I can't guess the difference between various types of "eggs".

When I see normal, probably hen's egg, they write

一个鸡蛋

but when I see some other types of eggs, they can write

一个鸟蛋

In these cases eggs are probably from different birds, not hens.

So what is the difference? Only bird genus or something else?

**Tags:** meaning, difference

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: bkrs:  鸡蛋(hen's) egg: 炒鸡蛋 scrambed eggs 煎鸡蛋 fried eggs 煮鸡蛋 hard-boiled eggs 鸟蛋 bird's eggs e.g. 掏鸟蛋 take bird’s eggs out of a nest, thus it appears 蛋 is a bound morpheme  
> **username_1**: re: "Only bird genus", crocodile egg 鳄鱼蛋,  卵 ovum； egg； spawn；e.g. turtle egg, 鳖卵, toad egg 蟾蜍的卵,fish roe 鱼卵, spider egg 蜘蛛卵  
> **username_1**: re: toad: 俗称  **癞蛤蟆**  
> **username_1**: biological term for egg is 卵, in the case of birds／鸟类 and reptiles 爬行动物（或称爬行类、爬虫类）it is called 蛋 with respectively hard (and brittle/脆) or rubbery shells “硬壳”/“革壳”(this suggests turtle egg in comment #2 should be  鳖蛋 (s.e.g. baike on 甲鱼(soft-shelled turtle)蛋)  
> **username_2**: The character 蛋 in Chinese like **egg** in English, which refers to all types of eggs in broad sense, or refers hen's eggs in narrow sense. Generally, we generally say 蛋 or **egg** for hen's egg, but we can also say hen's eggs, duck's egg, bird's egg.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2017-01-29. Score: 11 | Accepted answer

鸡蛋 is a specific term.
鸟蛋 is a general term.

When we know what kind of bird it is, we use a specific term.
Otherwise, we use a general term.

For example, we call the eggs of 鸭 (duck), 鸽子 (dove), or 鹌鹑 (quail) as 鸭蛋, 鸽子蛋, or 鹌鹑蛋.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2017-02-02. Score: -1

Chicken egg is 鸡蛋 and Bird egg is 鸟蛋.


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