Etymology

eyelid

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Today it means: A thin skin membrane that covers and moves over an eye. Full definition →

Middle English eyelidd ← Old English *ēaghlid ← Proto-West Germanic *augahlid
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*augahlid“eyelid”
  2. Old English · inherited from*ēaghlid“eyelid”
  3. Middle English · inherited fromeyelidd
  4. English todayeyelid

From Middle English eyelidd, eye-led, eiȝelid, eghe-lydd, yȝe-lydd, ehlid, yhelidd, from an unrecorded Old English *ēaghlid (“eyelid”), from Proto-West Germanic *augahlid (“eyelid”), equivalent to eye + lid. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Oogenlid (“eyelid”), West Frisian eachlid (“eyelid”), Dutch ooglid (“eyelid”), German Low German Ooglidd (“eyelid”), German Augenlid (“eyelid”). Generally superseded non-native Middle English palpebre (“eyelid”), borrowed from Latin palpebra (“eyelid”) (see Modern English palpebra).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.