good egg
5
6.1
- idiom
- /ɡʊd ɛɡ/
- Informal
:
buena persona
- My coworker is a good egg; he always helps others with their work.
- a good egg, really
Joining me is someone who is a real good egg.
- Joining me is someone who is a real good egg.
Examples
-
Madonna fan and all-around good egg.
Blog text (17) -
She seemed like a good egg.
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I was really a pretty good egg until you came into the picture.
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I think they are both good eggs at heart.
Blog text (21) -
Jack, we may not agree on everything, but you seem like a good egg from your postings here.
Blog text (24) -
Pete, you're a good egg.
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No, I think you're a good guy and you're a good egg, you know?
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He's a good egg.
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Karen's a good egg.
Fiction book (2002) -
They're good eggs.
Fiction book (1995)
Synonyms
304
1.0
A very kind person who helps others
55
6.7
A helpful, reliable person you can depend on
A person who can be trusted to do important tasks carefully and well
A person you think is very good and kind
Antonyms
How Kind
Surface Forms
Morphology
good + egg
The adjective 'good' clearly signals a positive trait, but 'egg' does not literally denote a person and its use to mean 'person of good character' is a metaphorical, idiomatic extension. A B1 learner who knows the words might guess a positive sense but would not reliably derive the specific meaning 'a kind, trustworthy person' without prior exposure, so the expression shows partial (but not full) compositionality.
Etymology
Good egg comes from how people think about real eggs. A good egg is fresh and not rotten, so people started calling a kind, trustworthy person 'a good egg'.