eye

English Online Dictionary. What means eye‎? What does eye mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: ī, IPA^(key): /aɪ/
• Homophones: ay, aye, I
• Rhymes: -aɪ

Etymology 1

From Middle English eye, eie, yë, eighe, eyghe, yȝe, eyȝe, from Old English ēage (“eye”), from Proto-West Germanic *augā, from Proto-Germanic *augô (“eye”) (compare Scots ee, West Frisian each, Dutch oog, German Auge, Danish øje, Norwegian Bokmål øye, Norwegian Nynorsk auga, Swedish öga), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃okʷ-, *h₃ekʷ- (“eye; to see”).

Other Indo-European cognates include Latin oculus (whence English oculus), Lithuanian aki̇̀s, Old Church Slavonic око (oko), Albanian sy, Ancient Greek ὄψ (óps, “(poetic) eye; face”) and ὄσσε (ósse, “eyes”), Armenian ակն (akn), Avestan 𐬀𐬱𐬌 (aši, “eyes”), Sanskrit अक्षि (ákṣi). Related to ogle.

The uncommon plural form eyen is from Middle English eyen, from Old English ēaġan, nominative and accusative plural of ēaġe (“eye”).

Noun

eye (plural eyes or (archaic or dialectal) eyen or (archaic) eyne)

2. An organ through which animals see (“perceive surroundings via light”).

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:eye

   Hyponym: ocellus
3. The visual sense.

4. The iris of the eye, being of a specified colour.

5. Attention, notice.
6. The ability to notice what others might miss.

   Synonym: perceptiveness
7. A meaningful look or stare.

8. Short for private eye.
9. A hole at the blunt end of a needle through which thread is passed.
10. The oval hole of an axehead through which the axehandle is fitted.
12. A fitting consisting of a loop of metal or other material, suitable for receiving a hook or the passage of a cord or line.

    Hyponyms: eyebolt, eye bolt, eyehook, eye hook, eyelet, screweye, screw eye

14. A loop forming part of anything, or a hole through anything, to receive a hook, pin, rope, shaft, etc.; for example, at the end of a tie bar in a bridge truss, through a crank, at the end of a rope, or through a millstone.

    Coordinate terms: boss, ear

15. (US) A burner on a kitchen stove.
16. The relatively calm and clear centre of a hurricane or other cyclonic storm.
17. A mark on an animal, such as a butterfly or peacock, resembling a human eye.
18. The dark spot on a black-eyed pea.
19. A reproductive bud in a potato.
20. (informal) The dark brown centre of a black-eyed Susan flower.
21. That which resembles the eye in relative beauty or importance.
22. A shade of colour; a tinge.
23. One of the holes in certain kinds of cheese.
24. (architecture) The circle in the centre of a volute.
25. (nautical, in the plural) The foremost part of a ship's bows; the hawseholes.
26. (typography) The enclosed counter (“negative space”) of the lower-case letter e.
27. (go) An empty point or group of points surrounded by one player's stones.
28. (usually in the plural) Opinion, view.

29. (mining) Synonym of pit-eye.

Derived terms

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: ai

Translations

See also

• tapetum lucidum

Verb

eye (third-person singular simple present eyes, present participle eyeing or eying, simple past and past participle eyed)

1. (transitive) To carefully or appraisingly observe (someone or something).

   Synonym: gaze (poetic)
2. (intransitive, obsolete) To appear; to look.
3. (transitive) To remove the reproductive buds from (potatoes).
4. (transitive) To allow (fish eggs) to develop so that the black eye spots are visible.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

eye (plural eyes)

1. The name of the Latin-script letter I/i.
   • 2016 CCEB, Communications Instructions Radiotelephone Procedures: ACP125 (G), pages 3–5:

     IED [is spoken] as "eye-ee-dee" instead of "I SPELL India Echo Delta Romeo".

Alternative forms

• i

Derived terms

• eff why eye

Etymology 3

Probably from rebracketing of a nye as an eye.

Noun

eye (plural eyes)

1. A brood.

Further reading

• eye on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• human eye on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• eye (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Yee, yee

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English eġe, from Proto-West Germanic *agi, from Proto-Germanic *agaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂égʰos. Doublet of awe.

Alternative forms

• eie, eȝe, eȝȝe, eyȝe, eiȝe

Pronunciation

• (Early Middle English) IPA^(key): /ˈɛjə/
• IPA^(key): /ˈæi̯(ə)/
• Rhymes: -æi̯(ə)

Noun

eye (uncountable)

1. awe, reverence, worshipfulness
2. horror, panic
3. that which creates reverence; the exercise of power
4. that which incites awe
5. that which incites terror

Related terms

• eifulle (rare)
• eiliche (rare)

Descendants

• English: ey (obsolete)

References

• “eie, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-11.

Etymology 2

Noun

eye

1. Alternative form of eie

Etymology 3

Noun

eye

1. Alternative form of ey (“egg”)

Nupe

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.jé/

Noun

eyé

1. eye
2. face; surface

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.jè/

Noun

eyè

1. nose

Tatar

Adverb

eye

1. very, of course, emphatic adverb

Tetelcingo Nahuatl

Interjection

eye

1. hey!

References

• Brewer, Forrest, Brewer, Jean G. (1962) Vocabulario mexicano de Tetelcingo, Morelos: Castellano-mexicano, mexicano-castellano (Serie de vocabularios indígenas Mariano Silva y Aceves; 8)‎^[2] (in Spanish), México, D.F.: El Instituto Lingüístico de Verano en coordinación con la Secretaría de Educación Pública a través de la Dirección General de Internados de Enseñanza Primaria y Educación Indígena, published 1971, page 126

Tocharian B

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁éy-ós, nominalized form of *h₁ey- (“to go”), where the semantics developed along the lines of the animals being herded. For similar etymological and semantic developments, compare Hittite iyant (“sheep”) and Oscan eítuvam (“wealth”) (originally meaning livestock, for which semantically compare Latin pecunia).

Noun

eye ?

1. sheep, goat

Further reading

• Adams, Douglas Q. (2013) “eye”, in A Dictionary of Tocharian B: Revised and Greatly Enlarged (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 10), Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, →ISBN, page 98

Umbundu

Pronoun

eye

1. (third-person singular pronoun)

See also

Yoruba

Alternative forms

• yèyé

Etymology 1

Possibly related to etymology 2, but this is used in slightly more formal settings.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /è.jé/

Noun

èye

1. (Ekiti) mother, mom

   Synonyms: ìyá, ùyá, màmá, mọ́mì, abiyamọ, iye, ìmọ̀mọ́, màámi, ìmọ́ọ̀

2. a term of familiarity or respect for an older woman, or older female relative, or a priestess

   Synonyms: ìyá, màmá, yèyé

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Perhaps related to Edo iye and Yorùbá iye

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /è.jē/

Noun

èyé

1. (Ekiti) mother, mom

   Synonyms: ìyá, ùyá, màmá, mọ́mì, abiyamọ, iye, ìmọ̀mọ́, màámi, ìmọ́ọ̀

2. a term of familiarity or respect for an older woman, or older female relative

   Synonyms: ìyá, màmá, yèyé

Derived terms