Additional information about 眼
說文解字:
- Criteria
- EYE
1. The general word for the eye, including the area around the eye is mù 目 (thus when one shāng mù 傷目 what is injured is not necessarily the eyeball itself). (This is a very flexible word which also has verbal uses. For which see SEE.)
2. Yǎn 眼 is a colloquial word for the eye (particularly the eyeball, as in yú yǎn 魚眼, never yú mù 魚目 in this sense) which became current in Warring States times. See EYE PARTS.
NB: Jīng 睛 is extremely rare in pre-Buddhist Chinese, and the word refers not so much to the eye as a whole but to the eyeball specifically.
- EYE PARTS
1. Yái 睚 zì 眥 refer to tissue that holds the eye in place in the "corners of the eye".
2. Kuàng 眶 refers to the bony socket of the eye.
3. Yǎn 眼 can be used to refer to the eyeball as such.
4. Jié 睫 refers to the eyelashes.
5. Jiǎn 瞼 refers to the eyelids.
6. Jìng 睛 is rare and refers to the eyeballs.