What does yolk mean?
Yolk is the familiar name for the yellow, nutrient-rich center of an egg. It contains much of an egg's fat, along with proteins, vitamins, and minerals, and it provides nourishment for a developing embryo when an egg is fertilized. In culinary contexts, a recipe may call for a hard-boiled yolk, a runny yolk, or the yolks of several eggs, reflecting the word's practical role in food preparation. Yolk also has a figurative meaning: the essential or central part of a person, subject, or argument. In that use, “the yolk of the matter” suggests the core issue beneath surrounding detail. The word is common in both British and American English and is countable, with “yolks” as its regular plural. Together, its literal and figurative senses make yolk a concise word for anything vividly central: the bright center of an egg or the concentrated core of a larger matter.
nounThe yellow, nutrient-rich portion of an egg, containing most of its fat and many of its vitamins and minerals. By extension, it can mean the essential or central part of something.
- The yellow, nutrient-rich part of an egg.
- The essential or central part of a person, subject, or situation, as in “the yolk of the matter.”
"She spooned the soft yolk onto the toast."
"She carefully separated the yolks from the whites for the sauce."
"After hours of debate, the team finally found the yolk of the problem."
The regular plural is yolks, used when referring to the yellow parts of several eggs or to several separate instances.
"The recipe calls for four yolks and six whites."
An egg's bright yellow center packs most of its fat and stores several essential vitamins and minerals.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does yolk come from?
The word comes through Middle English yolke from Old English yolc, the yellow part of an egg. Historical spellings included yolke and yelk, reflecting the development of the modern form in English. Its figurative use developed by extension from the central yellow part of an egg to the essential core of a person, subject, or situation.
Related word forms
How yolk is actually used
The figurative sense is literary or metaphorical and typically refers to the essential core of a subject, organization, or argument. In ordinary egg-related use, the word is neutral and countable.
Easily confused with yolk
Yolk is the yellow center of an egg, while a yoke is a curved wooden frame worn by draft animals or a piece of equipment placed around someone's shoulders.