What does "eye" mean?

1. (organ of sight) one of the two parts of your face that you use for seeing. 2. (attention or notice) the act of looking at or noticing something. 3. (ability to judge) the ability to notice things or judge them well. 4. (needle hole) the small hole at the end of a needle for the thread. 5. (centre of a storm) the calm area in the middle of a very strong storm. 6. (opinion or view) your opinion or how you see a situation. 7. (to look closely) to look at someone or something very carefully.

eye — meaning, definition & examples

Word

01organ of sight

A1 · Beginner Countable noun Medicine

n. one of the two parts of your face that you use for seeing.

n. the organ of sight in humans and animals, typically located in the head.

“She closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep while the music played.”

“The surgeon performed a delicate operation to repair the damaged retina in the patient's left eye.”

Synonyms

eyeball

02attention or notice

B1 · Intermediate Uncountable noun

n. the act of looking at or noticing something.

n. the focus of attention, observation, or scrutiny.

“The bright red car caught his eye as it drove past the house.”

“The unusual architectural details of the building immediately caught the eye of the passing tourists.”

Synonyms

attention notice scrutiny

03ability to judge

B2 · Upper Intermediate Countable noun

n. the ability to notice things or judge them well.

n. the faculty of discernment or the ability to notice specific qualities or details.

“The designer has a great eye for colour and detail.”

“Having spent decades in the industry, the editor had a keen eye for spotting talent in young, unpublished writers.”

Synonyms

discernment judgment taste

04needle hole

B2 · Upper Intermediate Countable noun

n. the small hole at the end of a needle for the thread.

n. the small aperture at the blunt end of a sewing needle through which thread is passed.

“It was difficult to pull the thick thread through the eye of the needle.”

“The tailor squinted in the dim light, attempting to guide the silk thread through the narrow eye of the needle.”

Synonyms

hole opening

05centre of a storm

B2 · Upper Intermediate Countable noun Science

n. the calm area in the middle of a very strong storm.

n. the relatively calm and clear region at the centre of a tropical cyclone or hurricane.

“The wind stopped blowing when the eye of the hurricane passed over the island.”

“Meteorologists monitored the eye of the storm as it moved toward the coast, noting that the pressure was dropping rapidly.”

Synonyms

centre core

06opinion or view

C1 · Advanced Plural noun Formal

n. your opinion or how you see a situation.

n. a person's perspective, judgment, or opinion; usually used in the plural.

“In the eyes of the law, everyone should be treated equally.”

“The project was a failure in the eyes of the board members, despite its popularity with the general public.”

Synonyms

opinion view perspective

07to look closely

B2 · Upper Intermediate

v. to look at someone or something very carefully.

v. to observe someone or something closely, often with suspicion, interest, or appraisal.

“The cat was eyeing the bird on the fence, waiting to jump.”

“The security guard continued eyeing the suspicious package left near the entrance until the police arrived.”

Synonyms

watch observe scrutinise

Antonyms

ignore

Common phrases and expressions where native English speakers use the word “eye” in context.

01. eye homogeneous 02. human eye

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”).

Probably from rebracketing of a nye as an eye.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

NOUN

eye(A1)