lay eyes on
"lay-eyes-on" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lay eyes on” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To see; look at; glimpse.
Corpus desk
Index EN-lay-eyes-on · lay eyes on · English
lay eyes on · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-6 6 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "L" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | lay eyes on |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “lay eyes on” in English
Rare enough to double-check
lay eyes on is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To see; look at; glimpse.".
lay eyes on doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is lay eyes on, spelled L-A-Y- -E-Y-E-S- -O-N.
Definition
- 1To see; look at; glimpse.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how lay eyes on appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Had he seen her once? He debated that a moment. No. The habits of long service years had made him note and remember people. He knew that if ever he had laid eyes on her lovely face, he would never have forgotten.
I remember back in school / When I first laid my eyes on you / I saw your smile and knew right then and there
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.