Why do we call them eyebrows and not brows.?

Question

We don't have knee brows or naval brows or butt brows. Only eyebrows. So, why don't we just call them brows?

What about eyelashes? I don't have lashes anywhere besides my eyes.

Answer 1

'brow' as a separate word had a different meaning then. Times passed we do not use brow anymore.

It is like ice-cream and cream. If you say just cream, meaning ice-cream nobody will understand. Let`s say 100 years from now there is no cream, may be due to changes in food culture. But there is still ice-cream. Then the question will be

why there is ice-cream, there is no other cream anyways. :)

Answer 2

Well, since "brows" means to shop in a store prior to buying anything, we have to distinguish between this verb and the noun that lives above our eyes.  As far as lashes, you get those from being hit with a whip or cat-of-nine-tails.  So, unless you're hit around the eyes, we have to distinguish between whip lashes and eyelashes.  See, it's simple once you put your mind brows to work on it.  Butt brows?  YUCK!