Hazel

//ˈheɪzəl// adj, name, noun

adj, name, noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A tree or shrub of the genus Corylus, bearing edible nuts called hazelnuts or filberts. countable, usually

    "The green turf was velvet underfoot. The blackbirds fluted in the hazels there."

  2. 2
    a shade of brown that is yellowish or reddish; it is a greenish shade of brown when used to describe the color of someone's eyes wordnet
  3. 3
    The nut of the hazel tree. countable, usually
  4. 4
    any of several shrubs or small trees of the genus Corylus bearing edible nuts enclosed in a leafy husk wordnet
  5. 5
    The wood of a hazelnut tree. uncountable, usually
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  1. 6
    the fine-grained wood of a hazelnut tree (genus Corylus) and the hazel tree (Australian genus Pomaderris) wordnet
  2. 7
    A greenish-brown colour, the colour of a ripe hazelnut. countable, uncountable, usually
  3. 8
    Australian tree grown especially for ornament and its fine-grained wood and bearing edible nuts wordnet
  4. 9
    Freestone. countable, usually
Adjective
  1. 1
    Of a greenish-brown colour. (often used to refer to eye colour)

    "As she grew up and her hazel eyes became hazeler and her dark hair darker and her white skin whiter, and her form a sigh on every boy’s lips, she concentrated on one dream."

Adjective
  1. 1
    of a light brown or yellowish brown color wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A female given name from English from the plant or colour hazel. Popular in the U.S. at the turn of the 20th century. countable, uncountable

    "GREEN. - - Squire Rodney has been looking into your affairs, and, by Jove! he swears you've deceived Hazel Kirke! ARTHUR. Deceived her? How? GREEN. He says that your marriage to her was a pretence, a farce, a lie."

  2. 2
    A topographic surname from Middle English for someone who lived near a hazel tree. countable, uncountable
  3. 3
    A place in the United States:; A minor city in Calloway County, Kentucky. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    A place in the United States:; A town in Hamlin County, South Dakota. countable, uncountable
  5. 5
    A place in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Snohomish County, Washington. countable, uncountable
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  1. 6
    A place in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Wetzel County, West Virginia. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
hazelnutbeigebrownbrownishbrownish-yellowbrunet

Example

More examples

"Witch hazel tightens pores without drying skin."

Etymology

From Middle English hasel, from Old English hæsl (“hazel, shrub”), from Proto-West Germanic *hasl, from Proto-Germanic *haslaz (“hazel”), from Proto-Indo-European *kóslos (“hazel”). Cognates Cognate with Yola hawlse (“hazel”), Dutch hazel, hazelaar (“hazel”), German Hasel (“hazel”), Vilamovian hozuł (“hazel”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Swedish hassel (“hazel”), Icelandic hesli (“hazel”), Norwegian Nynorsk hasl, hassel (“hazel”); also Latin corulus, corylus (“hazel”), Irish call, coll (“hazel”), Manx coull (“hazel”), Scottish Gaelic coll (“hazel”), Welsh cyll (“hazel trees”).

Related phrases

Hazel DellHazel Grovecorkscrew hazelhazel alderhazel dormousehazel grousehazel henhazel nuthazel pinehazel pomaderrishazel-eyedhazel-eyed

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.