Goggles

How to spell goggles

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce goggles

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does goggles mean?

1. nounClose-fitting protective eyewear that seals around the eyes against water, dust, glare, or chemicals.

Goggles in a sentence

• She pulled her swimming goggles down before diving into the pool.

• The lab rules require safety goggles whenever you handle the acids.

Where does goggles come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Goggles takes its name from the verb 'goggle', meaning to stare with wide, bulging eyes, which appears in Middle English as 'gogelen', perhaps describing eyes that roll or look sideways. The exact ancestry is uncertain, and most authorities treat it as a native English coinage of imitative or descriptive origin rather than a borrowing. By the eighteenth century the noun 'goggles' had attached itself to spectacles designed to protect the prominent, staring eyes from dust, glare, and wind. The modern sense, snug eye-protection worn for swimming, skiing, welding, or laboratory work, grew naturally from that protective use. The doubled 'g' and the soft '-le' ending are the spelling points to watch, since the word is always written in the plural even when it refers to a single pair.

How the word is built

• goggle (to stare with bulging eyes)
• -s (plural)