A small hole with a metal or fabric ring around it, used in shoes or fabric for threading laces or rope through.
From Old French oillet, from 'oil' (eye), with the diminutive suffix '-et' meaning 'small.' Originally meant 'little eye' because the opening resembles a pupil.
Your shoe's eyelets are still called 'eyes' in French (oillet), and this name stuck because medieval people thought a row of eyelets on a shoe looked like a series of watching eyes—which is kind of creepy when you think about it.
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