From PIE *h₂ōwyóm (egg). Kurdish 'hêk' is a remarkably pure preservation of this ancient root, showing the characteristic H₂→H development in Iranian. Latin 'ovum' gave French 'œuf'. English 'egg' comes from Old Norse, replacing the native Old English 'æg' (same PIE root). The word shows how Kurdish preserved an archaic form that many other IE languages lost or replaced.