eyen

English

Etymology

From Middle English eien, eyen, iȝen (nominative plural of eie), from Old English ēagan (nominative plural of ēage), from Proto-West Germanic *augōn (nominative plural of *augā), from Proto-Germanic *augōnō (nominative plural of *augô); equivalent to eye +‎ -en (plural ending)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aɪn/
• Rhymes: -aɪn
• Homophone: Ayn

Noun

eyen

1. (dialectal or archaic) plural of eye
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     While flashing beams do daze his feeble eyen.

   • 1897, William Morris, “Chapter VII. Birdalone Hath an Adventure in the Wood”, in The Water of the Wondrous Isles (Fantasy), Project Gutenberg, published 2005:

     But well are thine eyen set in thy head, wide apart, well opened, […]

   • 1903, Florence Converse, Long Will: A Romance, Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company; Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, page 138:

     Yea, ’t is true; I ’d know thee by thine eyen, that are gray, and thoughtful, and dark with a something that lies behind the colour of them,—and shining by the light of a lamp lit somewhere within.

   • 2001, James Ryman, “‘Meekly We Sing and Say to Thee’”, in Douglas Brooks-Davies, editor, Talking of Mothers: Poems for Every Mother (Everyman’s Poetry), London: Everyman Paperbacks, J.M. Dent, Orion Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 5:

     Sweet and benign mediatrix, / Thine eyen of grace on us thou cast, / Since thou art queen of paradise, / And let not our hope be in waste, / But show us thy Son at the last, / Since we do sing and say to thee, ‘Maria, spes nostra, salue.’

Anagrams

• eeny, eyne, yeen

Middle English

Noun

eyen

1. Alternative form of eien

Yola

Noun

eyen

1. Alternative form of ieen
   • 1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 114, lines 9-11:

     Yn ercha an aul o' while yt beeth wi gleezom o' core th' oure eyen dwytheth apan ye Vigere o'dicke Zouvereine, Wilyame ee Vourthe,

     In each and every condition it is with joy of heart that our eyes rest upon the representative of that Sovereign, William IV.,

   • 1927, “YOLA ZONG O BARONY VORTH”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 132, lines 10:

     Aal haar, an wi eyen lik torches o tar?"

     "All hair, and with eyes like torches of tar,"