goose egg

English

Etymology

From the oval shape of both a goose's egg and the Arabic numeral zero (0).

Noun

goose egg (plural goose eggs)

1. (Canada, US, informal) Zero; nothing.

   Synonym: duck egg

   I missed every question on the quiz and got a goose egg.

   • 1949 March, I. A. Horowitz, “Readers' Games”, in Chess Review:

     Grandmaster and grand duffer alike prefer the all-important point to the ignominious goose egg.

2. (informal) A swelling caused by a bump on the head.

Translations

nothing

• Bulgarian: нула (bg) (nula)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 零雞蛋／零鸡蛋 (ling⁴ gai¹ daan^6-2)

  Hokkien: 鴨卵／鸭卵 (ah-nn̄g), 鴨母卵／鸭母卵 (ah-bú-nn̄g, ah-bó-nn̄g)

  Mandarin: 鴨蛋／鸭蛋 (zh) (yādàn), 零蛋 (zh) (língdàn)

• German: überhaupt nichts
• Korean: 빵 (ko) (ppang)
• Malay: telur ayam
• Russian: ды́рка от бу́блика (ru) (dýrka ot búblika) (hole of a bagel)

swelling or bump

• Bulgarian: цицина f (cicina)
• German: Beule (de) f
• Russian: ши́шка (ru) f (šíška)