Meaning & use
egg race
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
a fun competition in which each person carries an egg on a spoon and tries not to drop it.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'an egg race' or 'egg races'. It is often used with the verb 'have' or 'run'.
Patterns
- have an egg race
- run an egg race
- win an egg race
- take part in an egg race
The children had an egg race in the school playground.
She won the egg race because she walked very slowly and carefully.
We need hard-boiled eggs for the egg race, or they will break.
Word forms
| plural | egg races |
|---|
Common combinations
- have an egg race
- Let's have an egg race at the summer fair.
- win the egg race
- He was very proud to win the egg race.
- hard-boiled egg
- Use a hard-boiled egg for the race so it doesn't make a mess.
- egg-and-spoon race
- In British English, this game is also called an egg-and-spoon race.
Synonyms and how they differ
- egg-and-spoon race
- This is the more common British name for the same game; 'egg race' is a shorter and slightly more general term.
Commonly confused: egg race or egg hunt?
egg race vs egg hunt
An egg hunt is when children search for hidden eggs, usually at Easter; an egg race is a race where you carry an egg on a spoon.
Practice
At the school sports day, the children took part in an egg race. What did they do?
Choose one answer.
An egg race is a game where you balance an egg on a spoon and race without dropping it. Searching for eggs is an egg hunt, and painting eggs is a different Easter activity.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “egg race”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.