hazel

Guest   Sat Mar 08, 2008 6:26 pm GMT
My sister in law has a hazel color of her eyes. My question is, what is it?
Uriel   Sat Mar 08, 2008 8:38 pm GMT
I usually think of it as a light greenish-brown, but other people have other definitions. However, it is always an in-between color.
Guest   Sat Mar 08, 2008 8:45 pm GMT
What other definitions can be if you care to explain, Uriel? One of my friends told me that hazel color is not a fixed one. The color changes all the time and his explanation sounded hogwash to me that's why I asked for help over here on the forum. If I go by your definition, a combo of greenish-black will also be called a hazel color. Right?? It is like a combination of any two colors?
Uriel   Sun Mar 09, 2008 5:53 am GMT
Here you go, from the American Heritage Dictionary:

ha·zel (hā'zəl)
n.
Any of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Corylus, especially the European species C. avellana or the American species C. americana, bearing edible nuts enclosed in a leafy husk. Also called filbert.
A hazelnut.
A light brown or yellowish brown.
[Middle English hasel, from Old English hæsel.]

hazel ha'zel adj.


I think a light brownish color is what most people have in mind, since hazel is also the name of a tree. But I said it could vary because some people have also seemed to use hazel to describe grayish eye colors as well.
Guest   Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:14 pm GMT
A few days ago I talked to her on the phone and she told me that her eyes were hazel in color. But yesterday her pic had cleared up my confusion. They sounded grayish in colour. No way they looked like light brownish. Why not use simple terms like "grayish" or "light brownish" instead of an unfamiliar term like "hazel".

Thanks for your help as usual, Uriel.
Guest   Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:40 pm GMT
Haven't you ever seen a hazelnut? Jeez
Guest   Sun Mar 09, 2008 1:10 pm GMT
English is not my native language. I must have seen the thing(hazelnut) in real life but I do not know what it is called in the English language. I hope it eliminated that shocking element from your mind.
Uriel   Sun Mar 09, 2008 9:40 pm GMT
Well, hazel isn't an unfamiliar term to us, of course. We're used to it!