Wordwyrt

mermaid

/ˈmɜːˌmeɪd/MUR-mayd
/ˈmɝˌmeɪd/MUR-mayd

Meaninga lake, mere

Common meaning: mythical woman with a fish's tail

Journey through time

  1. Old Englishmere‘a lake, mere’sourceB&T
  2. Middle Englishmeaning shiftsa lake, mere → sea maidenmermaid‘sea maiden’source
  3. Englishmeaning shiftssea maiden → mythical woman with a fish's tailmermaid‘mythical woman with a fish's tail’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Old English mere ‘a lake, mere’.

Roots

  • mere Old English “a female horse”

Related words

mare

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