English
oillet
Oillet comes from French œillet ‘eye (of a needle)’, and perhaps goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ- ‘to see’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃ekʷ-1‘to see’uncertain
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*okʷ(e)los1reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoculus2as oculum‘eye’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentœil2‘eye’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentœillet2‘eye (of a needle)’
- Englishearliest quotation 1987oillet2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin oculus
- 2 Wiktionary, English oillet
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1987, Gene Wolfe, New York: Tor Books: “Entertaining myself with such reflections as these, I had…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃ekʷ-Wiktionary, Latin oculus‘to see’uncertain
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*okʷ(e)losWiktionary, Latin oculusreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoculusWiktionary, English oilletas oculum‘eye’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentœilWiktionary, English oillet‘eye’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentœilletWiktionary, English oillet‘eye (of a needle)’
- Englishearliest quotation 1987oilletWiktionary, English oillet. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1987, Gene Wolfe, New York: Tor Books: “Entertaining myself with such reflections as these, I had…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ- ‘to see’
eye, anthropology, optics, synoptic, ogle, awk, anthropoid, 37 more
through Latin oculus ‘eye’
oculus, ocular, inoculation, inoculate, monocle, doily, 15 more
through French œillet ‘eye (of a needle)’
Today it means
noun A round hole or circle with which an opening for an arrowslit terminates.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “oillet”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin oculus. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ- / oillet