Learn English – One word for “a one-eyed person”

compoundsitaliannounssingle-word-requests

I've given an English children's story to a small group of Italian kids to read and perform. The story is about a boy who changes into a cat and makes friends with a one-eyed next-door neighbour; a grumpy-looking man who wears an eye patch.

The kids didn't really understand what "one-eyed" meant so I translated it in Italian as guèrcio. But they didn't know what that word meant, so I explained to them that "a one-eyed man" was a person who could see only from one eye, and no, he wasn't a Cyclops.

Likewise in Italian there is the adjective mónco which can describe a person with an amputated limb (usually it's the arm).

Which got me thinking, if each of these two physical disabilities has its own word in Italian, why isn't there its equivalent in English? I suppose nowadays these terms would be judged to be insensitive and discriminating, but what about in the past?

Maybe there used to be words that meant: "one-eyed person" and "one-armed person", or perhaps something in slang?

Best Answer

There is monoculus for a one-eyed person but OED says that it is obsolete.

†2. A one-eyed person or creature. Obs.

Etymology from OED:

< post-classical Latin monoculus the caecum (1363 in Chauliac), a one-eyed person or creature (7th cent.; from 12th cent. in British sources), irregularly < ancient Greek μονο- mono- comb. form + classical Latin oculus .

The word is perhaps attested earlier in sense A. 2 as a surname, Simon Monoculus (1212), though it is unclear whether this is to be interpreted as Middle English or post-classical Latin.

For someone who is blind in one eye or wearing an eye-patch, it doesn't seem like there is a specific single word. (For example, there is borgne in French.)

However, there is again an obsolete word for this sense: purblind.

2. †a. Blind in one eye. Obs.

Urbandictionary mentions pirate-eyed as a slang term but it is described as a specific case:

"Pirate-eyed" is a condition resulting from over use of the iPhone or similar device in the dark or dimly-lit environment whilst favoring one eye. The resulting condition causes a temporary focal imbalance akin to having a patch over an eye.

Related Topic