- Also called: cob
any of several shrubs or small trees of the N temperate genus Corylus, esp C. avellana, having oval serrated leaves and edible rounded brown nuts: family Corylaceae the wood of any of these trees - short for hazelnut
a light yellowish-brown colour (as adjective): hazel eyes
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
ha•zel /ˈheɪzəl/USA pronunciation
n.
adj.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- Plant Biology[countable] a small tree or shrub of the birch family, having toothed oval leaves and edible nuts.
adj.
- of a light golden- or greenish-brown color:beautiful hazel eyes.
ha•zel
(hā′zəl),USA pronunciation n.
adj.
ha′zel•ly, adj.
Ha•zel (hā′zəl),USA pronunciation n.
- Plant Biologyany shrub or small tree belonging to the genus Corylus, of the birch family, having toothed, ovate leaves and bearing edible nuts, as C. avellana, of Europe, or C. americana and C. cornuta, of the Western Hemisphere.
- Plant Biologyany of several other shrubs or trees, as an Australian shrub, Pomaderris apetala.
- the wood of any of these trees.
- Plant Biologythe hazelnut or filbert.
- light golden brown, as the color of a hazelnut.
adj.
- of or pertaining to the hazel.
- made of the wood of the hazel.
- having a light golden-brown color.
- bef. 900; Middle English hasel; Old English hæs(e)l; cognate with German Hasel, Old Norse hasl, Latin corylus hazel shrub
Ha•zel (hā′zəl),USA pronunciation n.
- a female given name.
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