Eyen

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The plural form of eye in archaic or poetic usage, referring to multiple organs of sight
2. An old or literary plural for the organs of vision, used in antiquated texts and verse
3. The archaic plural of the organ used for seeing, appearing in historical and classical literature

Etymology: "Eyen" is an archaic plural of "eye", and it survives mainly in older poetry and in the Bible-style phrasing that many readers know from the King James Version. The "-en" ending is a plural marker, the same one found in "oxen" and "children", which English kept long after most nouns had dropped it. Medieval English frequently doubled up plurals this way, so "eyen" was in effect "eyes" with the plural marked twice. The ending goes back much further than English. In Old English the plural was "ēagan", which came from a Proto-Germanic plural form "augōnō" that already carried the -n ending. Over centuries the singular "ēage" became "eye", while the plural kept its -n and then, in Middle English, took an extra -s-type ending too in some regions. The word therefore preserves an older plural pattern that Germanic languages shared, one that most of them later abandoned.

Synonyms: eyes