Khalaza

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The twisted, rope-like strand of albumen that holds the yolk centered within an egg white
2. A cord of thickened egg white at each end of the yolk that keeps it suspended in place
3. One of the spiral cords of dense white found in an egg that anchor the yolk to the shell membranes

Etymology: Khalaza is the technical name for the cord-like strands of egg white (the chalazae) that anchor the yolk in place inside an egg. The word was borrowed into English from New Latin "chalaza," which in turn came from Greek "khalaza," meaning "hailstone" or "lump of hail." The Greek physician Hippocrates used the term for these structures, and the resemblance is easy to see: the twisted white cords look like hard little knots of ice suspended in the albumen. The link to hail is the whole point of the name. Greek "khalaza" was an ordinary word for hail, and anatomists borrowed it for any small lump or swelling in the body, and later for these egg structures. English writers adopted the scientific sense in the 1600s, when the anatomy of the egg was being studied closely.

Synonyms: chalaza