Eyes

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /aɪz/

Definitions

1. The sensory organs in the head responsible for perceiving visual stimuli through light capture and processing enable recognition of surroundings and identification of objects
2. Anatomical features that function as the primary receptors for visual information, facilitating the interpretation of color, depth, and motion in the environment
3. The organs located in the head that detect light and allow the perception of images and colors

Etymology: "Eyes" is simply the plural of "eye," and it is the old plural of the word, not a later addition. Its ancestor in Old English was "ēage," and the two-syllable plural "ēagan" shows how the vowel alternated across forms. Over the centuries the plural took on the ending "-s," which came into the Middle English period, while the singular kept its older shape. The word "eye" traces back to a reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root, "h₃ekʷ-," which meant both "eye" and "to see." That double meaning survives in the family's offspring: the same root gave Latin "oculus" and Ancient Greek "ops," both meaning "eye," and in the Germanic branch it became the source of "eye" in English and "Auge" in German. The link to seeing is preserved in English as well, in the verb "ogle," which descends from the same base.

Synonyms: sight, vision, gaze, look, glance

Antonyms: blindness, invisibility, unseeing, darkness, oblivion