Hatching is when a baby animal breaks out of its egg. A chick uses a special bump on its beak called an egg tooth to crack through the shell from the inside. The process can take hours or even days of hard work. When you watch a duckling finally emerge from its egg, wet and tired but alive, you're witnessing hatching.

Birds, reptiles, fish, and insects all hatch from eggs. Sea turtles hatch on beaches and immediately scramble toward the ocean. Butterflies hatch from tiny eggs before becoming caterpillars. Each species hatches differently: some animals are ready to move around right away, while others need care from their parents.

The word can also describe the parallel lines artists draw to create shadows and depth in their drawings. When you see a sketch where the artist has drawn many thin lines close together to make something look darker, that's called hatching. Artists use cross-hatching when they layer lines in different directions to create even deeper shadows. This technique helps turn a flat drawing into something that looks three-dimensional, giving objects weight and form on the page.