What determines if eyes are hazel?

I have hazel eyes which have also been called "cat-eyes" because they change colors.

Eye color is a polygenic trait and is determined by the amount of melanin present in the eye. A small amount of melanin will result in blue eyes, a larger amount will result in green eyes, and brown eyes represent melanin-rich irises. Human beings have many variations in eye color.

Hazel is usually used to describe eyes that contain elements of both green eyes and brown eyes. Some hazel-eyed people have irises which transition from green at the edges to a light or darker brown near the center.

Hazel eyes can also have shades of amber or orange mixed in with the green and/or brown.

I thought that Hazel eyes were bluish/green on the outside with a hint of brownish/yellow around the pupil...just like you said!

If you look at my avi. it has green but my real eyes are hazel and hazel is a color that is actually mix with brown and green pretty cool huh!

I've always heard/interpreted that hazel is more of greenish brown than bluish green. I consider my own to be aqua/jade....a pale blue/green like sea glass.

people like ur grandparents or even ur great-grandparents couldv had hazel eyes. since brown is a darker color than blue, it wouldv covered the blue so u cant even c it, which means the hazel eyes r a dominant trait. so since blue eyes r a recessive trait, it means it would b rare to get blue eyes.

They aren't hazel.Myne are.They usualy are brown with a green tint.Yellow around the pupil doesn't sound healthy...get it checked out.

Heritage, but I wanted to tell you that I have been underwater for 20 minutes and could breath a lot of water( like air I mean ) and am okay.I am the girl who asked the water power question.