Meaning & use
brown eye
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Meanings
nouncountable
an eye whose iris is brown in color
Grammar: Usually plural when talking about both eyes: brown eyes. Use 'a brown eye' for one eye.
Patterns
- brown eyes
- a brown eye
Both her parents have brown eyes, and so does she.
He has one brown eye and one green eye, which is very unusual.
The baby was born with dark brown eyes.
nouncountableinformalslangvulgar
a rude slang term for a punch or kick in the buttocks area
Grammar: Used in informal speech, often in the phrase 'give someone a brown eye'.
Patterns
- give someone a brown eye
The older boys threatened to give him a brown eye if he told on them.
In the film, the character jokes about giving his friend a brown eye.
Word forms
| plural | brown eyes |
|---|
Common combinations
- dark brown eyes
- She has dark brown eyes like her grandmother.
- big brown eyes
- The puppy looked up with big brown eyes.
- brown-eyed
- The brown-eyed girl smiled at the camera.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hazel eyes
- Hazel eyes are a mix of brown and green, so they are not exactly the same as brown eyes.
Opposites
Word family
- brown-eyed adjective
- having brown eyes
- brown adjective
- the color of chocolate or soil
Commonly confused: brown eye or brownie?
brown eye vs brownie
A brownie is a chocolate cake or a junior Girl Scout, not an eye color.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'brown eye' in its literal, everyday meaning?
Choose one answer.
Only option 2 uses 'brown eye' literally, to mean an eye with a brown iris. The other options use the vulgar slang meaning, which is not the everyday literal sense.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “brown eye”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.