# eye

> English word · Noun · IPA /aɪ/ · frequency rank #1,018

## Definitions
1. An organ through which animals see (“perceive surroundings via light”).
2. The visual sense.
3. The iris of the eye, being of a specified colour.
4. Attention, notice.
5. The ability to notice what others might miss.
6. A meaningful look or stare.
7. Ellipsis of private eye.
8. A hole at the blunt end of a needle through which thread is passed.
9. The oval hole of an axehead through which the axehandle is fitted.
10. A fitting consisting of a loop of metal or other material, suitable for receiving a hook or the passage of a cord or line.
11. 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.
12. A burner on a kitchen stove.
13. The relatively calm and clear centre of a hurricane or other cyclonic storm.
14. A mark on an animal, such as a butterfly or peacock, resembling a human eye.
15. The dark spot on a black-eyed pea.
16. A reproductive bud in a potato.
17. The dark brown centre of a black-eyed Susan flower.
18. That which resembles the eye in relative beauty or importance.
19. A shade of colour; a tinge.
20. One of the holes in certain kinds of cheese.
21. The circle in the centre of a volute.
22. The foremost part of a ship's bows; the hawseholes.
23. The enclosed counter (“negative space”) of the lower-case letter e.
24. An empty point or group of points surrounded by one player's stones.
25. Opinion, view.
26. Synonym of pit-eye.

## Etymology
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ-der.
Proto-Germanic *augô
Proto-West Germanic *augā
Old English ēage
Middle English eye
English eye
From Middle English eye, yë, eyghe, from Old English ēage (“eye”), from Proto-West Germanic *augā, from Proto-Germanic *augô (“eye”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃okʷ-, *h₃ekʷ- (“eye; to see”). Related to ogle.
Cognates
Cognate with Scots ee, eh (“eye”), North Frisian Oog, uug (“eye”), Saterland Frisian Oge, Ooge (“eye”), West Frisian each (“eye”), Alemannic German, Bavarian Aug (“eye”), Central Franconian Au, Auch, Ooch (“eye”), Dutch oog (“eye”), German Aug, Auge (“eye”), Low German Auge, Oog (“eye”), Luxembourgish A (“eye”), Vilamovian aojg, aug, oüg (“eye”), Yiddish אויג (oyg, “eye”), Danish øje (“eye”), Elfdalian oga (“eye”), Faroese eyga (“eye”), Icelandic auga (“eye”), Norwegian Bokmål øye (“eye”), Norwegian Nynorsk aua, aue, auga, auge (“eye”), Scanian yva (“eye”), Swedish öga (“eye”), Crimean Gothic oeghene (“eyes”), Gothic 𐌰𐌿𐌲𐍉 (augō, “eye”).
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).
The archaic plural form eyen is from Middle English eyen, from Old English ēaġan, nominative and accusative plural of ēaġe (“eye”).

## Easily confused with
- **ez** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/eye-vs-ez)
- **eyes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/eye-vs-eyes)
- **eyed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/eye-vs-eyed)
- **eyre** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/eye-vs-eyre)
- **i** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/eye-vs-i)
- **e** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/e-vs-eye)
- **ex** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ex-vs-eye)
- **ed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ed-vs-eye)
- **et** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/et-vs-eye)
- **EU** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/eu-vs-eye)
- **em** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/em-vs-eye)
- **el** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/el-vs-eye)
- **en** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/en-vs-eye)
- **eh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/eh-vs-eye)
- **er** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/er-vs-eye)
- **EP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ep-vs-eye)
- **ES** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/es-vs-eye)
- **ea** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ea-vs-eye)
- **EV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ev-vs-eye)
- **ee** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ee-vs-eye)

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/eye