eyelet

English

Etymology

From Middle English oylet, from Old French oillet, equivalent to Old French oil (“eye”) + -et (diminutive suffix). Spelling and pronunciation were later on influenced by eye (which is distantly related to oil via Proto-Indo-European) as though suffixed with -let (a double diminutive also from -et).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaɪ.lət/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: islet
• Rhymes: -aɪlət

Noun

eyelet (plural eyelets)

1. An object that consists of a rim and small hole or perforation to receive a cord or fastener, as in garments, sails, etc. An eyelet may reinforce a hole.

   Coordinate terms: buttonhole, grommet, eyebolt, eye screw, screw eye

   Push the aglet of the shoelace through each of the eyelets, one at a time.

2. A shaped metal embellishment containing a hole, used in scrapbook. Eyelets are typically set by punching a hole in the page, placing the smooth side of the eyelet on a table, positioning the paper over protruding edge and curling the edge down using a hammer and eyelet setter.
3. Cotton fabric with small holes.
4. The contact tip of the base of a light bulb.
5. A peephole.
6. A little eye.

Derived terms

• eyeleteer

Translations

small hole to receive a cord or fastener

• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: rengasniitti, sirkkarengas, sirkka (fi), vahvikerengas
• French: œillet (fr) m
• Galician: ollal (gl) m, ollete m
• German: Öse (de) f, Schnüröse (de) f
• Irish: súilín m
• Italian: occhiello (it) m
• Latin: foramen
• Manx: lhoobag f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: malje (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: malje f, melle f

• Portuguese: ilhó (pt) m, casa (pt) f
• Spanish: ojete (es) m, ojal (es) m, ojetillo m
• Swedish: öljet c
• Tagalog: ohetes
• Ukrainian: лю́верс (ljúvers)

contact tip of a light bulb

• Bulgarian: фасунка f (fasunka)
• Finnish: kontaktinasta

small eye

• French: œillet (fr) m
• German: Äuglein (de) n
• Greek: ματάκι (el) n (matáki)

  Ancient Greek: ὀμμάτιον n (ommátion)

Verb

eyelet (third-person singular simple present eyelets, present participle eyeletting or eyeleting, simple past and past participle eyeletted or eyeleted)

1. (transitive) To make eyelets in.