merman

English

Etymology

From Middle English mereman, from Old English *meremann (“merman”) (suggested by Old English meremenn, meremennen, meremenin (“mermaid, siren”), equivalent to mer- +‎ man. Cognate with Dutch meerman (“merman”), German Meermann (“merman”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)mən

Noun

merman (plural mermen)

1. A legendary creature, human male from the waist up, fishlike from the waist down.
   • 1653, The Loves of Hero and Leander: A Mock Poem, London, page 19:

     The meer man hath no feet but fins / And this hath legs you see and shins.

Synonyms

• merguy (informal)

Hypernyms

• merperson

Hyponyms

• merboy
• merfather

Translations

legendary creature

• Bulgarian: тритон m (triton)
• Catalan: tritó m
• Danish: havmand c
• Dutch: meerman (nl) m
• Esperanto: marviro
• Finnish: vetehinen (fi), vedenhaltija (fi)
• French: triton (fr) m
• Georgian: კაცთევზა (ḳactevza), ტრიტონი (ṭriṭoni)
• German: Wassermann (de) m
• Hawaiian: kāne hiʻu iʻa
• Hindi: जलमानुस m (jalmānus), जलमानव m (jalmānav)
• Irish: murúch fir f
• Italian: tritone (it) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 半魚人
• Korean: 어인 (ko) (eoin)
• Latin: trito m, semivir marinus, triton m
• Norwegian: havmann
• Persian: دریامرد
• Polish: tryton (pl) m
• Portuguese: tritão (pt) m, sereio (pt) m
• Spanish: tritón (es) m
• Tagalog: siyokoy
• Vietnamese: người cá

See also

• mermaid
• merfolk

Anagrams

• Nammer

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Spanish

Verb

merman

1. third-person plural present indicative of mermar