Ee

Part of speech: noun, interjection

Definitions

1. The organ of sight, as it is named in Scots and northern English dialect ; a northern English exclamation of surprise, sympathy or mild alarm
2. Another name for the eye used in Scottish and northern English speech ; an interjection voiced in northern England to show surprise or sympathy
3. A dialect word for the organ of vision in parts of Scotland and northern England ; a dialect exclamation expressing astonishment, pity or concern

Etymology: The word "ee" is the northern English and Scots dialect word for "eye," and its plural "ee'n" or "een" preserves an older form that once sat alongside it. In Old English the word was "ēage," and the familiar "eye" developed from that root through the regular sound changes of the centuries after the Norman Conquest. In northern dialects, the vowel stayed closer to the original, and it was then shortened to a single sound that spelled as "ee." The Scots and northern form appears in older texts and still survives in regional speech, most famously in the Scots phrase "ee-bree" or "eebrie," meaning the eyebrow. The shortened vowel shows how dialect pronunciation can keep a sound that the standard language moved away from, so that a word spelled like a modern English vowel sound is in fact a much older one.

Synonyms: eye