What does "plat-eye" mean?

A mythical monster or ghost in the folklore of the West Indies and southern United States; it is a being with large, glowing eyes, capable of shapeshifting and sometimes depicted as a phantom bound to a particular place, such as a cave or grove, as a guardian (for buried treasure, etc).

Plat-eye

noun

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Definitions

Noun

1
A mythical monster or ghost in the folklore of the West Indies and southern United States; it is a being with large, glowing eyes, capable of shapeshifting and sometimes depicted as a phantom bound to a particular place, such as a cave or grove, as a guardian (for buried treasure, etc).
"De ole folks is talk bout Plat-eye. Dey say dey takes shape ob all kind de critter"

Example

More examples

"De ole folks is talk bout Plat-eye. Dey say dey takes shape ob all kind de critter"

Etymology

From plat, a term of unknown origin, plus eye. Attested from the 19th century. Originally African-American, especially South Carolina.

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