spectacled

Spectacled is an adjective that describes someone who wears eyeglasses or something characterized by spectacles. The term derives from the noun spectacle and the suffix -ed, with roots in Latin through Old French into English. In everyday use, it refers to people with glasses and, in zoological contexts, to animals whose facial markings resemble eyeglasses.

In biology and taxonomy, spectacled is a common epithet in the common names of several species whose facial patterns include pale or light rings around the eyes. Notable examples include the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), the only bear species native to South America; the spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus), a crocodilian found in northern and central South America; the spectacled owl (Pulsatrix perspicillata), a nocturnal bird with a pale facial disk around the eyes; and the spectacled eider (Somateria fischeri), a sea duck with distinctive eye-ring markings.

The use of spectacled in species names often highlights a diagnostic feature—the presence of eye-ring patterns that resemble glasses. Outside of scientific naming, spectacled continues to be used descriptively for people who wear glasses, and as a literary or observational descriptor for objects or patterns that evoke the appearance of spectacles. Overall, the term functions as a concise, neutral descriptor in both ordinary language and scientific nomenclature.