gafas

eyeglasses

“Llevas gafas?” — Do you wear glasses?

Related: gafas de sol, gafudo

Unknown. Likely from Catalan gafa (“hook”) (related to Catalan agafar), possibly referring to the hooks that kept eyeglasses in place and differentiated it from a pince-nez. Cognate with English gaff, meaning a large metal hook. Other possible etymologies relate it to French faire gaffe (“pay attention”), or German gaffen (“to stare”). It is sometimes said to instead be related to the Andalusian Arab scholar of the 12th century Muhammad ibn Aslam Al-Ghafiqi, an ophthalmologist.