HOME | DD

Description
I felt like coming up with some new jargon to classify and denote different eye colors. I found it interesting that there was vocabulary to denote rare conditions in eyes, like heterochromia, aniridia or ocular albinism, but no terms to directly label specific eye colors. So here is my first draft of eye color terminologies. This is one of two charts, with this chart focusing on real world eye colors and the other chart focusing on eyes found only in fiction.

Brunachromia  - The condition of having brown eyes. This is the most common eye color amongst humans, though there is a vast spectrum of what most cultures would consider as 'brown' so you could divvy this category up into several subcategories if you wanted.

Poliochromia  - The condition of having gray/grey eyes. A particularly rare eye color, often mistaken for light blue even when it occurs.

Glaukochromia - The condition of having cyan or teal eyes.

Kyanochromia - The condition of having blue eyes; particularly a non-greenish shade of blue as opposed to the previous category.

Verdichromia - The condition of having green eyes. This is the rarest naturally occurring eye color. It may be interesting to note that green eyes are an optical illusion of sorts, caused by unique interactions of specific blends of pigmentation and Rayleigh Scattering to reflect a mixture of light which we merely perceive as green. Though on that note, some have gone so far as to say that the only eye color humans can truly possess is just brown (Brunachromia). So if you want different eye colors at all you have to take into consideration the illusory hues.

Aurechromia  - The condition of having yellow eyes. Arguably, this is not a real eye color at all. What some would deem as yellow eyes might just be an extreme case of hazel or amber colored eyes and by extension be categorized within Brunachromia. Though at the same time others would swear by having seen cases of this, so I figured I'd include it on the chart just for good measure. Who knows, maybe yellows eyes do exist in abundance, it's just no one with Aurechromia has ever crossed paths with an ophthalmologist up to this very day. I wouldn't bet on it though.

Heterochromia - The condition of having two or more eye colors simultaneously. There are 3 types of heterochromia in total. Complete heterochromia, which is when each eye has one solid eye color respectively, while the individual eyes are a different color from one another. Central heterochromia, which is when the inner most layer of the iris, near the pupil, is a different color from the outer most layer, near the sclera. And sectoral/partial heterochromia, which is when an iris has two different colors simultaneously, but the separation between them is wedge-like or random, as though a splash of secondary color was thrown onto the iris like wet paint onto a canvas. This word is notably the precedent for which I based the epithets of the other eye colors off of. Etymologically, heterochromia doesn't have much to do with the eye itself. "Hetero-" meaning different and "-chromia" meaning color, denotes the meaning of this word as "different colors" Yet after being associated with eyes for so long, I'd say the word has cultivated its own unique meaning from which new language can build off of. For an example of a word similar to this: Telescopic, which has little to do with its etymological roots and more with the mechanical functions of the real world tool it was named from.

Aniridia - The condition of lacking irises in the eyes, be it partially or completely. Notably this is not the same thing as having very dark irises that may appear as black from a distance. In the real world, humans can't develop truly black irises. So that would be a notion of fiction.

Description
I felt like coming up with some new jargon to classify and denote different eye colors. I found it interesting that there was vocabulary to denote rare conditions in eyes, like heterochromia, aniridia or ocular albinism, but no terms to directly label specific eye colors. So here is my first draft of eye color terminologies. This is one of two charts, with this chart focusing on real world eye colors and the other chart focusing on eyes found only in fiction.

Brunachromia  - The condition of having brown eyes. This is the most common eye color amongst humans, though there is a vast spectrum of what most cultures would consider as 'brown' so you could divvy this category up into several subcategories if you wanted.

Poliochromia  - The condition of having gray/grey eyes. A particularly rare eye color, often mistaken for light blue even when it occurs.

Glaukochromia - The condition of having cyan or teal eyes.

Kyanochromia - The condition of having blue eyes; particularly a non-greenish shade of blue as opposed to the previous category.

Verdichromia - The condition of having green eyes. This is the rarest naturally occurring eye color. It may be interesting to note that green eyes are an optical illusion of sorts, caused by unique interactions of specific blends of pigmentation and Rayleigh Scattering to reflect a mixture of light which we merely perceive as green. Though on that note, some have gone so far as to say that the only eye color humans can truly possess is just brown (Brunachromia). So if you want different eye colors at all you have to take into consideration the illusory hues.

Aurechromia  - The condition of having yellow eyes. Arguably, this is not a real eye color at all. What some would deem as yellow eyes might just be an extreme case of hazel or amber colored eyes and by extension be categorized within Brunachromia. Though at the same time others would swear by having seen cases of this, so I figured I'd include it on the chart just for good measure. Who knows, maybe yellows eyes do exist in abundance, it's just no one with Aurechromia has ever crossed paths with an ophthalmologist up to this very day. I wouldn't bet on it though.

Heterochromia - The condition of having two or more eye colors simultaneously. There are 3 types of heterochromia in total. Complete heterochromia, which is when each eye has one solid eye color respectively, while the individual eyes are a different color from one another. Central heterochromia, which is when the inner most layer of the iris, near the pupil, is a different color from the outer most layer, near the sclera. And sectoral/partial heterochromia, which is when an iris has two different colors simultaneously, but the separation between them is wedge-like or random, as though a splash of secondary color was thrown onto the iris like wet paint onto a canvas. This word is notably the precedent for which I based the epithets of the other eye colors off of. Etymologically, heterochromia doesn't have much to do with the eye itself. "Hetero-" meaning different and "-chromia" meaning color, denotes the meaning of this word as "different colors" Yet after being associated with eyes for so long, I'd say the word has cultivated its own unique meaning from which new language can build off of. For an example of a word similar to this: Telescopic, which has little to do with its etymological roots and more with the mechanical functions of the real world tool it was named from.

Aniridia - The condition of lacking irises in the eyes, be it partially or completely. Notably this is not the same thing as having very dark irises that may appear as black from a distance. In the real world, humans can't develop truly black irises. So that would be a notion of fiction.