Is "Zeig mal Eier!" offensive?

It's genuinely rude — a 3/5 (Watch your audience) on the Punch-o-Meter. Fine among friends, never at work or with people you've just met.

How do you pronounce "Zeig mal Eier!"?

Say it "TSYKE mahl EYE-er" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: t͡saɪk maːl ˈaɪ.ɐ.

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German · Sports & the Terraces

Zeig mal Eier!

TSYKE mahl EYE-er · /t͡saɪk maːl ˈaɪ.ɐ/

Show some balls! / Grow a pair!

3/5 Watch your audience

genuinely rude; friends only, never at work

Literally

"Show some eggs!"

Word-for-word — which is rarely what it means.

How to use it

"Eier" (eggs) are the anatomical slang, so this is "show some balls" — bellowed at a team playing timidly. Crude locker-room register; fine on the terraces, off-colour everywhere else. "Keine Eier haben" (to have no balls) is the matching insult for a coward.

Heard in the wild

Spielt nach vorne, zeig mal Eier!

Attack, show some balls!

Where it lands

Germany, Austria — sports/laddish

Quick answers

What does "Zeig mal Eier!" mean?: In German, "Zeig mal Eier!" means "Show some balls! / Grow a pair!". Literally it's "Show some eggs!". "Eier" (eggs) are the anatomical slang, so this is "show some balls" — bellowed at a team playing timidly. Crude locker-room register; fine on the terraces, off-colour everywhere else. "Keine Eier haben" (to have no balls) is the matching insult for a coward.
Is "Zeig mal Eier!" offensive?: It's genuinely rude — a 3/5 (Watch your audience) on the Punch-o-Meter. Fine among friends, never at work or with people you've just met.
How do you pronounce "Zeig mal Eier!"?: Say it "TSYKE mahl EYE-er" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: t͡saɪk maːl ˈaɪ.ɐ.

Related in German

Schiri, du Pfeife! SHEE-ree doo PFY-fuh Ref, you useless clown! Gurkentruppe GOOR-ken-troop-uh A shambolic bunch of losers / a Sunday-league outfit Flasche leer! FLASH-uh LAIR Out of gas / totally spent (of a player or team) Bist du blind, oder was? BIST doo BLINT OH-der VASS Are you blind or what?! — the all-purpose bad-call howl Quatsch! KVATCH Nonsense! / Rubbish! / No way! Arsch ARSH Arse / ass — and the second great compound-engine of German

The same idea, elsewhere

Via concepts like "Coward".

how to say "Coward" →

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