Etymology

egg on

Today it means: To encourage or coax (a person) to do something, especially something foolhardy or reckless. Full definition →

Middle English eggen ← Old Norse eggja
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The story

  1. Old Norse · derived fromeggja“to incite”
  2. Middle English · derived fromeggen“to incite; urge on; instigate”
  3. English todayegg on

* From Middle English eggen (“to incite; urge on; instigate”), from Old Norse eggja (“to incite”), from egg (“edge”). More at edge. * A variant of the archaic "edge on."

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.