Difference between dark brown, brown and hazel eyes?

Question

Sometimes I have a hard time figuring out the difference between brown and hazel eyes. I've always thought that dark brown eyes were brown eyes with no other colors mixed in. Brown eyes can have some green and other colors mixed in, but are predominantly brown. Hazel eyes, in my opinion, look hazel all the time and not just in bright lighting. Is this right?

eye #1- dark brown
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1179/867085339_77c32bbe65.jpg

eye #2- brown
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1392/867085345_8e06153e11.jpg

eye #3- hazel
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1388/867085323_96200b9ab2.jpg

Answer 1

Hazel is a catch all term used for eyes with a mixture of colours: a brown, blue or green background with patches and flecks of brown, blue or green.

If an eye is mostly brown with just a little bit of other colours, you are free to call it brown or hazel. Eye colour naming has no precise rules.

Answer 2

Brown eyes are just brown, they can be light or dark, but they are a solid color. Hazel eyes have different colors in them, like rings or streaks of different colors.....and they come in many variations. But hazel eyes always have brown in them. Different people have different definitions of hazel, though, some people say it's light brown, some say blue-green. But when I think of hazel I think of a multicolored eye.