bad egg

English

Etymology

An allusion to an egg that has gone bad or turned rotten.[1]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbæd ɛɡ/
Audio (AU) (file)

Noun

bad egg (plural bad eggs)

(Britain, idiomatic) Someone whose behaviour is reprehensible or irresponsible; a rogue.
- 1906, Horatio Alger, Joe the Hotel Boy,
  "Dat's right!" piped up the newsboy who had brought the policeman. "I see him do de trick jest a minit ago!"
  
  "This is a plot against me!" fumed the swindler.
  
  "Dat feller is a bad egg!" went on the newsboy. "His name is Bill Butts. He's a slick one, he is. Hits de country jays strong, he does!"
- 1914, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Mucker:
  I've been a fairly bad egg, Byrne, for a great many years; but, by George! I'm not entirely rotten yet.
- 1990, John Updike, Rabbit at Rest:
  My son had a drug problem and hired a bad egg as a chief accountant […]

Antonyms

good egg

Translations

rogue

Chinese:
Mandarin: 壞蛋 (zh)
Finnish: mätämuna (fi)

French: délinquant (fr), malfrat (fr) m, bandit (fr) m
Romanian: stricat (ro) m, ticălos (ro) m

See also

References

“A bad egg” in Gary Martin, The Phrase Finder, 1997–, retrieved 28 December 2017; “egg” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019, retrieved 28 December 2017.

Anagrams

bagged

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