plat-eye

noun

A mythical monster or ghost in the folklore of the West Indies and southern United States; it is a being with large, glowing eyes, capable of shapeshifting and sometimes depicted as a phantom bound to a particular place, such as a cave or grove, as a guardian (for buried treasure, etc).

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Meanings

nounplat-eye (plural plat-eyes)

plural plat-eyes

  1. A mythical monster or ghost in the folklore of the West Indies and southern United States; it is a being with large, glowing eyes, capable of shapeshifting and sometimes depicted as a phantom bound to a particular place, such as a cave or grove, as a guardian (for buried treasure, etc).

    De ole folks is talk bout Plat-eye. Dey say dey takes shape ob all kind de critter

    1985, Charles Joyner, quoting Maum Addie, interviewed by Genevieve Willcox Chandler c. 1938, Down by the Riverside: A South Carolina Slave Community, page 152

Origin

From plat, a term of unknown origin, plus eye. Attested from the 19th century. Originally African-American, especially South Carolina.

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Cite this entry
APA

plat-eye. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/plat-eye

MLA

“plat-eye.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/plat-eye. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “plat-eye,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/plat-eye.

Source: plat-eye on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.