noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
Canada:/ˈmɑnəkəl/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:M AA1 N AH0 K AH0 L
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
A single lens, usually in a wire frame, and used to correct vision for only one eye.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
A one-eyed animal.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
lens for correcting defective vision in one eye; held in place by facial muscles
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: eyeglass
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: lens, lense, lens system
History
Etymology
1886, borrowed from French monocle, from Late Latin monoculus (“one-eyed”), from mono- (“single”) + oculus (“eye”).
Across languages
Translations
35 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Bulgarian:
монокъл
(monokǎl)
— a single lens
Chinese Mandarin:
單片眼鏡 /单片眼镜
(dānpiànyǎnjìng)
— a single lens
Chinese Mandarin:
單眼鏡 /单眼镜
(dānyǎnjìng)
— a single lens
Chinese Mandarin:
單透鏡 /单透镜
(dāntòujìng)
— a single lens
Czech:
monokl
— a single lens
Danish:
monokel
— a single lens
Dutch:
monocle
— a single lens
Esperanto:
monoklo
— a single lens
Finnish:
monokkeli
— a single lens
French:
monocle
— a single lens
German:
Monokel
— a single lens
Greek:
μονόκλ
(monókl)
— a single lens
Hungarian:
monokli
— a single lens
Icelandic:
einglyrni
— a single lens
Ido:
monoklo
— a single lens
Irish:
leathspéacla
— a single lens
Italian:
monocolo
— a single lens
Japanese:
片眼鏡
(katamegane)
— a single lens
Korean:
단안경
(danan'gyeong)
— a single lens
Northern Kurdish:
yeklarî
— a single lens
Northern Kurdish:
yeklêjî
— a single lens
Macedonian:
моно́кл
(monókl)
— a single lens
Malayalam:
ഒറ്റച്ചില്ലുകണ്ണട
(oṟṟaccillukaṇṇaṭa)
— a single lens
