I don't even know what it's called in English. What do you call the "crust" or whatnot that is in the eye upon waking up? Is their a word for it? Some people refer to it as "sleep" but I don't know for sure.

In Hindi and Panjabi, it's /giDDaa/.

 

In Portuguese it's "remela" or "ramela".

 

Interesting thread! I don't know either what it's called in English. I've heard people informally refer to it as "eye boogers." In Tagalog it's called "muta."

 

I'm not sure of what you refered to. I think it's 眼屎 in Chinese, which means waste（feces) in the eyes.
Anthony

 

Finnish:

rähmä

There's also a verb for it: rähmiä

 

It is called "Çapak" in Turkish! and it's pronunciation is "chapak".

 

Hi!

In Dutch it is called "slaap in de ogen" slaap= sleep. ogen = eyes. in de= in the

Greetings

 

I always knew it as 'sleepy dust' or 'sleeping dust'.
Sounds a bit nicer than 'boogers' or 'feces'.....

 

Could you make a sentence by using rähmiä? Thank you.

 

I've always known it as ''sleep'', so you could say '' I have some sleep in my eye''

 

What is it in Spanish, Catalan, and Portuguese?

 

Whoops! Muito obrigado o meu amigo!

 

I most commonly hear it in English as "sleep" as well, but also "sand" is heard a lot...my boyfriend is Jamaican and says they say something that sounds like "mah-tah", but he always thought it was spelled "matter", which made sense to him...but now he wonders if maybe it's the same from Tagalog "muta"...=P "Since Patwah is a very mish-mash language". The nicer word for a language of blends like that is a 'creole language', I think. =P

 

Spanish: Legaña.

 

Ok, here goes:

Silmäni rähmivät aamuisin.
= My eyes produce "eye crust" in the mornings.

 

If I understood correctly, then it is called krmelj /крмељ in Serbian.

 

Hi, Panja!

In Catalan it is lleganya.

Salut!

 

Latin American Spanish:
Lagaña.

 

In Polish we say:
śpioch (very often in the plural--śpiochy)
zaropiałki
or
ropa

Tom

 

In Gujarati we call it:

popraa
(or to be more specific: aankho ni horay popraa - "crust near the eyes")

"popraa" literally means something like "crust". We also use this term for the rice that is stuck on the sides of a pot which have gone really hard. Some people like to eat this type of rice.

 

A friend from California had a very cute name for it (which he said he learned in pre-school): sleep.
Andy would say, "You have sleep in your eyes."
O

 

I like the euphemisms in English given by some people here!
I may well use them in the future rather than the ones I've been using

 

Wow I've never heard that. How do you spell it in Hindi? (गिद्दा)?

 

Other D. The one you spelled is a women's folk dance in Panjab. What do you say?

 

गिद्धा ?
गिधा ?

See post 21 for what we say in Gujarati

 

In Tagalog:

Eye crust - Muta

 

In Romanian: "puchinei"

 

In Czech:
Ospalky.

 

Haha in Bulgarian it is gureli

 

The Hungarian word is of Turkish origin and it's called: csipa [IPA: tʃipɒ]

 

Hi everyone,

in German, the crusty/sandy stuff you find in your eyes in the mornings is normally called Sand(körnchen) ("wee grain of) sand" (pronounciation: [zant]).

There is even the lovely figure of the Sandmann (or Sandmännchen [diminutive form]), the "sand man", who visits little children in the evenings to help them (or make them) go to sleep, precisely by putting a tiny quantity of sand into their eyes (it might not seem a very pleasant idea, but it obviously works ).

_________________
PS: On the other hand, funnily, the saying "Jemandem Sand in die Augen streuen" (to put sand into someone's eyes) means to delude or mislead them.

 

In Italian is called cispa.

 

I realize now looking back that the spelling I provided in Hindi was incorrect. Should be गिड्डा. At least that's how we say it in my family, but now that I think of it, I'm not too certain if this is Hindi or Panjabi.

Any ideas on Persian, Urdu, Marathi, or Hindi?

 

According to Wikipedia, in English it's called Rheum; in Arabic it's called قذى = qatha (th as in that).

 

It would be interesting to hear what metaphors are being used. I suppose the crust refers to bread or something else that has been baked.

I found the word “rheum”, “eye mucus”. See more at http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/forums/viewthread/597/.

BY the way, I really wonder whether we can call it simply 'slaap' in Dutch. I know we say that we 'rub sleep out of our eyes', but I would think I do it even if I do not know have the 'crust' on my eyes. I think the rubbing is a metaphor for getting rid of the sleepy feeling. But I hear the English use 'sleepers'...

We do use 'zand in de ogen strooien', but I thought that was metaphorical language for obliging one to close the eyes... I may be wrong though, I admit.

 

From the Spanish translation by Dr.Quizá I understood that it is
csipa
in Hungarian.
(I didn't realize it before, because of the unexpectedly nice expressions other nations use for that.)

 

In Hawaiian it's maka pia'pia'.

 

In Esperanto, I'd say muko.

 

I'd love to hear more about the precise meaning of the Hawaiian and Hungarian version.

 

The Hungarian csipa is of Turkish origin and has only one meaning and it means only what it means.

 

Too bad, I want too much. I was thinking it might have referred to the 'crust' on the outside of a loaf of bread or something. Just funny that you borrowed that particular little word from Turkish - or is it because it is a little word ? (You can consider this a rhetorical question - or answer it)

 

I think one who speaks Turkish or has access to any Turkish etymology dictionary could answer your question.

 

In English, we say "boogers"; in Hindi, "dheeRh"; and in French, "chassie".

 

I found that officially it is called 'rheum' and the English Wikipedia gives quite some synonyms:

Interesting how the Sandman story is/ was used to account for that..

 

In Greek it's «τσίμπλα» ['t͡simbla] (fem.) < Byzantine Gr. «σίφλα» síphla (fem.) = «τσίφλα» tsíphla (fem.) after a dialectal phenomenon in Modern Greek called "tsitacism" (the palatalization of «σ» [s] to «τσ» [t͡s]) --> blemish, eye crust < Classical adj. «σιφλός, -ὴ, -όν» sīpʰlós (masc.), sīpʰlḕ (fem.), sīpʰlón (neut.) --> spongy, soft (with obscure etymology).

 

In hebrew
קורי שינה qurey sheyna - sleep(ing/'s) webbing/cobweb

 

Thanks for providing this link ThomasK!

Besides the other English synonyms for “rheum” that have been listed so far, I have also heard it referred to as "eye cheese."

 

Wow, that's so poetic!

 

in between awake and sleep? It is " Idlip" in Tagalog but deep sleep is "Himbing".