# eye crust (sleep, rheum)



## panjabigator

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/.


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## ronanpoirier

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


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## Chriszinho85

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."


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## gao_yixing

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


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## DrWatson

Finnish:*

rähmä*

There's also a verb for it: *rähmiä*


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## ameana7

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


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## Salmantina

Hi!

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

Greetings


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## GEmatt

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


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## MingRaymond

DrWatson said:


> Finnish:
> 
> *rähmä*
> 
> There's also a verb for it: *rähmiä*


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


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## elpoderoso

panjabigator said:


> 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/.


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


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## panjabigator

What is it in Spanish, Catalan, and Portuguese?


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## ronanpoirier

panjabigator said:
			
		

> What is it in Spanish, Catalan, and Portuguese?





			
				ronanpoirier said:
			
		

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


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## panjabigator

Whoops!  Muito obrigado o meu amigo!


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## TheWonderfulShoe

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


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## Dr. Quizá

Spanish: Legaña.


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## DrWatson

MingRaymond said:


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



Ok, here goes:

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


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## Maja

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


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## betulina

Hi, Panja!

In Catalan it is *lleganya*.

Salut!


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## Venezuelan_sweetie

Dr. Quizá said:


> Spanish: Legaña.


Latin American Spanish:
Lagaña.


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## Thomas1

In *Polish* we say:
_śpioch_ (very often in the plural--śpiochy)
_zaropiałki_
or
_ropa_

Tom


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## linguist786

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.


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## olivinha

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


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## linguist786

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


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## linguist786

panjabigator said:


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


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


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## panjabigator

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


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## linguist786

गिद्धा ?
गिधा ?

See post 21 for what we say in Gujarati


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## tanzhang

In Tagalog:

Eye crust - Muta


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## Cleo-Mi

In Romanian: "puchinei"


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## kusurija

In Czech:
Ospalky.


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## Kanes

Haha in Bulgarian it is _gureli_


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## Encolpius

ameana7 said:


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


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


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## Sidjanga

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.


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## federicoft

In *Italian* is called _cispa_.


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## panjabigator

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?


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## Mahaodeh

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


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## ThomasK

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.


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## pepperone

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.)


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## Nizo

In Hawaiian it's _maka pia'pia'_.


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## Nizo

In Esperanto, I'd say _muko_.


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## ThomasK

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


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## Encolpius

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


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## ThomasK

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)


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## Encolpius

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


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## littlepond

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


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## ThomasK

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


> eye gunk, sleepydust, sleepy boogers, eye discharge, eye goop, eye crud, eye jelly, eye crust, eye bogeys, eye boogers, eye-sand, cockapia, optical crustaceans, sleepy dirt, bug dust



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


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## apmoy70

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).


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## arielipi

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


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## Grefsen

Thanks for providing this link *ThomasK!* 


ThomasK said:


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


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


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## littlepond

arielipi said:


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



Wow, that's so poetic!


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## mataripis

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


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## 810senior

Japanese: me-yani(eye-fat), me-aka(eye-scurf), me-kuso(eye-shit).


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## KhanSays

This thing has variety of names. In Urdu it's referred as different funny names. It's called "چیپڑ" (Cheepar) /tʃiːpṛ/


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## spindlemoss

In Welsh it's *crawn* [krau̯n], which also means "matter" or "pus". Nice.


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## Testing1234567

Cantonese: 眼屎 (eye-feces)

Hokkien: 目屎膏 (eye-feces-cream)


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## spindlemoss

spindlemoss said:


> In Welsh it's *crawn* [krau̯n], which also means "matter" or "pus". Nice.



In Welsh it could also be *baw cwsg* [bau̯ kʊsg/kuːsg] "sleep muck" or just *cwsg* [kʊsg/kuːsg] "sleep" like in English.


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