saccade
noun·/səˈkɑːd/
A rapid, involuntary jerk of the eye as it shifts focus from one point to another, the tiny leap by which vision samples the world in discrete glances. A saccade is a jump, seeing as a succession of quick, stitched-together fixations.
In the interview, her eyes made small saccades toward the door, as if her attention kept checking for escape.
Etymology
From French saccade "jerk," from saccader "to jolt." Science borrowed the everyday word and narrowed it, naming a motion most people never notice they're making.
Related Words
fixationthe steadier pause between saccades
nystagmusinvoluntary oscillation of the eyes; different pattern
proprioceptionanother “silent” sense; kin in hidden bodily knowledge
gazethe experienced whole that saccades construct
Colophon
Space Mono Regular
Colophon Foundry
oklch(55% 0.2 210)
Space Mono sets every letter in the same width, like the evenly spaced targets in an eye-tracking test, so the word reads as a row of places for the eye to land. The blue is the cool, even light of a lab screen.