Meanings
nouneye-word (plural eye-words)
plural eye-words
- A word encountered more often in writing than in speech, and thus liable to be pronounced incorrectly.
We may hesitate whether "churl" is to be pronounced with a k or with a soft ch sound, because we do not use the word commonly in speech and hence it is becoming more of an eye-word than an ear-word.
1908, Edward Kirby Putnam, Spelling Reform and Authority in Language: A Paper Read Before the Contemporary Club, Davenport, Iowa, December 26, 1907, page 7
Cite this entry
APA
eye-word. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/eye-word
MLA
“eye-word.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/eye-word. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “eye-word,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/eye-word.
Source: eye-word on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.