yeux

French

Etymology

From Middle French yeulx, yeux, from Old French ieuz ~ ialz, plural form of oeil ~ oil ~ ueil ~ uel. A regular outcome of Latin oculōs, the accusative plural of oculus (the source of œil). Mildred Pope explains its phonetic development as becoming *[ˈɔːʎos] > *[ˈweʎts] > *[weuts] via regular sound changes, followed by a regular dissimilation of [weu] to [jeu] (see for example Latin locus > *[lweu] > Old French lieu, iocus > *[dʒweu] > Old French gieu > jeu). The resulting [jeuts] then becomes modern [jø].

Old and Middle French present many variant forms of this plural, including, from Godefroy's Dictionnaire du Moyen Français: ialz/yalz, yolz, olz/ols, uelz/uels/eus, ils, oulz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jø/

• Audio (Paris); [jø]:

  (file)

• Audio; “les yeux” [le.z‿jø]:

  (file)

• Audio (Paris); “les yeux” [lɛ.z‿jø]:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -jø

Noun

yeux m pl

1. plural of œil, eyes

   Il a les yeux bleus. ― He has blue eyes.

   Il a de beaux yeux bleus. ― He has beautiful blue eyes.

Usage notes

• Unlike most words beginning with a consonantal ⟨y⟩ /j/, this word triggers liaison with valid preceding words. For example: les yeux /le.z‿jø/, beaux yeux /bo.z‿jø/.
• Since the spoken form /jø/ is always plural, its occurrence without a preceding /z/ is rather rare. When it happens, speakers are likely to say /zjø/ nevertheless. For example: beaucoup d’yeux /bo.ku d‿jø/ is often said /bo.ku d(ə) zjø/. This phonemenon is more widespread in modern French, but it is particularly frequent with this word.