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There is a character in the Japanese manga series (and trading card game) Yu-Gi-Oh! called “Blue-Eyes White Dragon”.

But why is this name phrased as “Blue-Eyes White Dragon”, and not “Blue-Eyed…”?

As far as I’m concerned, the latter is the correct form. Or maybe I’ve just got it wrong? I am so confused, maybe it’s not about grammar at all?

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  • Possible duplicate of Blue eyed girl vs Blue eye girl
    – Benjamin Kuykendall
    Commented Mar 1, 2019 at 20:42
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    You’ll need to provide more context for the community to match the phrasing to the intent.
    – Lawrence
    Commented Mar 2, 2019 at 0:00
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    Probably for the same reason that Frank Sinatra was known as "Old Blue Eyes" and not "Old Blue Eyed": it's a nickname based on a striking physical feature, not an adjectival modifier of a following noun.
    – Sven Yargs
    Commented Mar 2, 2019 at 4:36

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According to the Yugioh Fandom page on Blue-Eyes White Dragon, the character is a White Dragon named Blue-Eyes.

Despite being always called "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", or even simply just the "White Dragon", Blue-Eyes always has a light blue body as well as blue eyes.

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  • If so, then the comparator is Roger Rabbit / Mickey Mouse / Donald Duck, not Muffin the Mule / Hugo the Hippo. The example with more than two words is unusual, and I'd think would encourage the choice A the B. Skippy the Bush Kangaroo / Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion / Bunny the Talking Dog. Admittedly, Jemima swings both ways. But the transliteration used feels oriental.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Apr 8 at 13:13
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You would use the adjective formed from the past participle of the body part cast as a verb.

long-legged bird

pigeon-footed runner

blue-eyed dragon

long-eared rabbit

long-haired dog

saber-toothed tiger

double-edged sword

and so forth.

This form will always be grammatical. In some cases, e.g. saber-tooth tiger and double-edge sword, you will hear the adjective being formed from two nouns in combination. This could be a case of the 'd' being dropped for phonetic simplicity, since it tends to happen where the resulting consonant cluster is a little hard to pronounce. We wouldn't say "a brown-eye girl".

If the question is specifically about a particular playing card of some kind, and not about the grammar of adjectives involving a body-part or attribute, then some other rule may be in effect.

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  • Thank you guys so very much. You’ve really helped me with this one
    – Skyler
    Commented Mar 1, 2019 at 22:15
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    The exception is if the first part is written as a single word: longhorn cattle, longear sunfish, redtail catfish, blacknose shark, hammerhead shark...
    – Stuart F
    Commented Apr 8 at 11:51
  • @StuartF Yes, when the combination has become part of the name, the second element is a singular noun even if the body part comes in multiples like ear or leg or foot or eye or horn. Though sometimes you will find both, as with walleye(d) pike and duckbill(ed) platypus
    – TimR
    Commented Apr 8 at 13:04

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