Fact-Checking Ovo: What It Means in Hip-Hop, Slang, and Biology

Take a closer look at Fact-Checking Ovo: What It Means in Hip-Hop, Slang, and Biology with our latest coverage.

Centuries before Toronto rappers adopted the letters, classical writers relied on them for philosophical and narrative precision. The Latin noun for egg is ōvum. Its ablative form gives us the phrase ab ovo, which translates literally to "from the egg."

The Roman poet Horace coined the expression in his treatise Ars Poetica. Horace praised Homer for not beginning his account of the Trojan War ab ovo, referencing the mythical twin egg from which Helen of Troy hatched. Instead, Homer dropped readers straight into the thick of battle. In modern literary criticism, narrative structures that recount events chronologically from the very inception are still described as unfolding ab ovo.

In biological and nutritional sciences, the Latin root serves as an essential prefix. The term ovo-lacto vegetarian designates someone who refrains from eating animal flesh but includes both eggs (ovo) and dairy products (lacto) in their meals. A strict ovo-vegetarian eats eggs while avoiding all dairy and meat products. In veterinary and developmental biology, oviparous animals are those that reproduce by laying eggs rather than giving live birth.