merlette
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Late Middle English [Term?], from Anglo-Norman merlet (from merle (“blackbird”) + -et (“suffix forming a noun”)), or from Middle French merlette (“little blackbird; merlette (heraldic charge)”) (from merle (“blackbird”)—formerly a feminine noun) + -ette (“diminutive suffix for a feminine noun”).[1] Merle is from Latin merula (“blackbird”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ems- (“black; blackbird”).
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /məːˈlɛt/
- (General American) IPA(key): /mɚˈlɛt/
- Hyphenation: mer‧lette
Noun[edit]
merlette (plural merlettes)
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ “merlette”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Further reading[edit]
- list of heraldic charges on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From merle + -ette, literally “little blackbird”, the word for the male blackbird being mostly female until the 16th century (a male: "une merle", a little male: "une merlette").[1]
Meaning 2 (hen blackbird) appears in 1842.[2][3]
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio (file)
Noun[edit]
merlette f (plural merlettes)
Further reading[edit]
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Anglo-Norman
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Heraldic charges
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French feminine nouns
- fr:Heraldic charges
- French terms suffixed with -ette (diminutive)
- French terms suffixed with -ette (female)
- fr:Female animals
- fr:Thrushes