Eyebrow
/ˈaɪˌbraʊ/noun
The strip of hair growing above the eye.
Did you know?In Old English, the ancestor of *eyebrow* was formed transparently from words meaning “eye” and “brow,” showing how ordinary body words often preserve the oldest layers of English.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*h₃ekʷ-
“to see”
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*bhrū-
“eyebrow, brow”
Old English
English
ēagbrū
“eyebrow”
Middle English
English
eiebroue
“eyebrow”
Modern English
English
eyebrow
“the hair growing above the eye”