TSUMUGU · TOCFL 1 · 字
蛋
蛋 ＝ 疋 ＋ 虫
ㄉㄢˋ · dàn
noun — an egg
字源 FORM — what the parts do
疋空the worn remainder of 延 yán — the old sound-giver
虫義a small creature
The graph first wrote 蜑 dàn, the boat people of the southern coast — 虫 marking southern names (蠻、閩 carry it too), 延 yán giving the sound, later worn to 疋. The everyday egg borrowed the written shell whole: 雞蛋、皮蛋、蛋糕.
故事 STORY — a scene to remember it by
殼一裂，濕漉漉的小東西（虫）鑽出來——蛋空了。
The shell cracks; a wet little creature (虫) pushes out, and the egg stands empty.
字源記憶法
意 · Meanings
(本義)蜑民— the Dàn boat people — the graph's first job
→雞蛋— an egg常用
⇒壞蛋、笨蛋— a bad egg — name-calling
(本義) original meaning · → ⇒ each arrow = one more step of extension
關 · Related
蜑dànthe first owner — 延 still whole on top of the 卵luǎnthe older egg word — the classical one