keeneyed

Keeneyed is an adjective describing someone with exceptionally sharp vision or a person who notices details quickly and accurately. The standard form is keen-eyed, with a hyphen when used as a modifier before a noun, as in a keen-eyed detective. It can also describe animals with acute vision or a figurative ability to perceive subtleties, as in a keen-eyed reader.

Origin and form: Keen means sharp or acute, and eyed indicates possession of eyes. The compound has appeared in English since the early modern period. The most common modern spelling is keen-eyed; the one-word variant keeneyed occurs in some older or informal texts and is generally considered nonstandard today.

Usage and synonyms: The term emphasizes perceptiveness and vigilance as well as physical sight. Synonyms include sharp-eyed, eagle-eyed, and watchful. It is widely used in journalism, fiction, and everyday speech to describe people who detect details that others miss. While often describing people, it can also apply to animals or groups noted for their keen perception.

Notes: In compound adjectives before nouns, keen-eyed is typically hyphenated; when used predicatively or after a verb, hyphenation may be less strict in modern usage. The concept is common in literary and media contexts and remains a concise way to convey acute visual or observational skill.