Plain English Meaning

The tiny spot at the back of your eye that gives you your clearest, most detailed vision in daylight. It works great in the day but goes nearly blind at night.

Full Definition

A small central pit in the retina, densely packed with cone cells, that provides the sharpest daylight vision and the eye's best color and detail resolution. The fovea contains no rod cells, so it does not function well in low light.

Context Anchor

Seen in night vision training when learning why pilots use off-center viewing to detect faint lights or objects at night.

Derivation

From Latin fovea, meaning 'small pit' or 'hollow.' The name describes its physical shape — a tiny depression at the center of the retina.