eggy

The word 'eggy' is a straightforward English formation, combining the native noun 'egg' with the productive adjectival suffix '-y'. The noun 'egg' itself has a complex journey, entering English from Old Norse, supplanting the native Old English 'æg', with both tracing back to the same Proto-Indo-European root for "bird egg". The suffix '-y' (from Old English '-ig') is one of the most common and enduring means in English to create descriptive adjectives from nouns, conveying the sense of "characterized by" or "resembling". Thus, the literal construction "full of egg" or "like an egg" logically yields the primary modern sense describing food that tastes or smells strongly of eggs. The British informal sense meaning "irritable" is a metaphorical extension, playing on the idea of someone being "full of" a bad mood, much like a food is full of the flavor of eggs.

Structure: egg (the reproductive body) + y (adjective-forming suffix) egg: From Middle English 'egge', from Old Norse 'egg'. Its ultimate origin is Proto-Indo-European h₂ōwyóm ("egg"). In this word, it functions as the core noun root, providing the central semantic concept. y: A native English suffix from Old English '-ig', used to form adjectives meaning "having the qualities of" or "full of". It functions as a derivational suffix that changes the noun into a descriptive adjective.