Mercury

See also: mercury

English

Mercury astronomical symbol

Etymology

From Middle English Mercurie, from Latin Mercurius.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɝkjəɹi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Proper noun

Mercury

2. (astronomy) The planet in the solar system with the closest orbit to the Sun, named after the god; represented by ☿.
4. (Roman mythology) The Roman god associated with speed, sometimes used as a messenger. He wore winged sandals. Mercury corresponded to the Greek god Hermes.

Translations

planet

• Afrikaans: Mercurius (af)
• Albanian: Merkur
• Arabic: عُطَارِد‎ m (ʿuṭārid)
• Armenian: Մերկուրի (Merkuri), Փայլածու (Pʿaylacu)
• Assamese: বুধ (budh)
• Asturian: Mercuriu m
• Azerbaijani: Ütarid

  Cyrillic: Үтарид

• Basque: Merkurio (eu)
• Belarusian: Мерку́рый m (Mjerkúryj), Мэрку́рый m (Merkúryj) (Taraškievica orthography)
• Bengali: বুধ (budh)
• Breton: Merc'her (br)
• Bulgarian: Мерку́рий m (Merkúrij)
• Burmese: ဗုဒ္ဓဟူး (my) (buddha.hu:)
• Catalan: Mercuri (ca) m
• Cherokee: ᎹᏓᎵ (madali)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 水星 (seoi² sing¹)

  Mandarin: 水星 (zh) (Shuǐxīng)

  Min Nan: 水星 (zh-min-nan) (chúi-chheⁿ, chúi-chhiⁿ)

• Chuvash: Мерку́рий (Merkúrij)
• Cornish: Merher m
• Crimean Tatar: Utarit
• Czech: Merkur (cs)
• Danish: Merkur (da)
• Dutch: Mercurius (nl) f
• Esperanto: Merkuro (eo)
• Estonian: Merkuur (et)
• Finnish: Merkurius (fi)
• French: Mercure (fr) m or f
• Galician: Mercurio (gl) m
• Georgian: მერკური (merḳuri)
• German: Merkur (de) m
• Greek: Ερμής (el) m (Ermís)

  Ancient: ἀνάγκη f (anánkē)

• Gujarati: બુધ (budh)
• Hawaiian: Ukaliali‘i
• Hebrew: חַמָּה‎ (he) f (khamá)
• Hindi: बुध (hi) m (budh), तीर (hi) m (tīr)
• Hungarian: Merkúr (hu)
• Icelandic: Merkúríus (is)
• Ido: Merkuro (io)
• Indonesian: Merkurius, Utarid
• Interlingua: Mercurio m
• Irish: Mearcair m
• Italian: Mercurio (it) m
• Japanese: 水星 (ja) (すいせい, Suisei), マーキュリー (Mākyurī)
• Kannada: ಬುಧ (kn) (budha)
• Kazakh: Болпан (Bolpan), Кіші Шолпан (Kişi Şolpan)
• Khmer: ផ្កាយពុធ (phkaay put), ពុធ (km) (put)
• Korean: 수성 (ko) (Suseong) (水星 (ko)), 진성 (Jinseong) (辰星)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: زاوە‎ (zawe)

  Northern Kurdish: Tîr (ku), Zawe (ku)

• Kyrgyz: Меркурий (Merkuriy)

• Lao: ພຸດ (phut), ດາວພຸດ (lo) (dāo phut)
• Latin: Mercurius (la) m
• Latvian: Merkurs m
• Lithuanian: Merkurijus (lt) m
• Macedonian: Меркур m (Merkur)
• Malay: Utarid (ms)
• Malayalam: ബുധൻ (ml) (budhan)
• Maltese: Merkurju m
• Manchu: ᠮᡠᡴᡝ
  ᡠᠰᡳ᠍ᡥᠠ (muke usi᠍ha)
• Maori: Apārangi, Takero
• Middle Persian: tyl
• Mongolian: Буд (Bud)
• Navajo: Mókiwii
• Norwegian: Merkur (no)
• Oriya: ବୁଧ (or) (budhô)
• Pashto: عطارد‎ (ps) m (atāród)
• Persian: تیر‎ (fa) (tir), عطارد‎ (fa) ('otâred), زاووش‎ (fa) (zāvūš)
• Polish: Merkury (pl) m
• Portuguese: Mercúrio (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਬੁੱਧ (buddha)
• Romanian: Mercur (ro) m
• Russian: Мерку́рий (ru) m (Merkúrij)
• Sanskrit: बुध (sa) m (budha)
• Santali: ᱮᱞᱟᱝ ᱮᱸᱜᱮᱞ (elaṅ ẽgel)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Меркур m

  Roman: Merkur (sh) m

• Slovak: Merkúr m
• Slovene: Merkúr (sl) m
• Sotho: Mekhuri
• Spanish: Mercurio (es) m
• Swahili: Utaridi (sw), Zebaki (sw)
• Swedish: Merkurius (sv) c
• Tagalog: Merkuryo
• Tajik: Уторид (tg) (Utorid), Тир (Tir)
• Tamil: புதன் (ta) (putaṉ)
• Tatar: Merkuri
• Telugu: బుధుడు (te) (budhuḍu)
• Thai: ดาวพุธ (daaw-pút)
• Tibetan: ལྷག་པ (lhag pa)
• Turkish: Merkür (tr), Utarit (tr) (archaic)
• Turkmen: Merkuriý
• Ukrainian: Мерку́рій m (Merkúrij)
• Urdu: عطارد‎ m (utārid), تیر‎ m (tīr)
• Uyghur: مېركۇرى‎ (mërkuri), ئارزۇ‎ (arzu), ئاتارۇت‎ (atarut)
• Uzbek: Atorud

  Cyrillic: Аторуд

• Vietnamese: Sao Thủy (𣋀水)
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: Mercher (cy) m
• West Frisian: Merkurius
• Yiddish: מערקור‎ m (merkur)
• Zulu: uMerkuriyu

Roman god

• Armenian: Մերկուրի (Merkuri)
• Asturian: Mercuriu m
• Belarusian: Мерку́рый m (Mjerkúryj), Мэрку́рый m (Merkúryj) (Taraškievica orthography)
• Breton: Merc'her (br)
• Bulgarian: Мерку́рий m (Merkúrij)
• Catalan: Mercuri (ca) m
• Cherokee: ᎹᏓᎵ (madali)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 墨丘利 (mak⁶ jau¹ lei⁶)

  Mandarin: 墨丘利 (zh) (Mòqiūlì)

• Cornish: Merher m
• Czech: Merkur (cs) m
• Dutch: Mercurius (nl) m
• Esperanto: Merkuro (eo) m
• Estonian: Mercurius
• Finnish: Merkurius (fi)
• French: Mercure (fr) m
• Galician: Mercurio (gl) m
• Georgian: მერკური (merḳuri)
• German: Merkur (de) m
• Greek: Ερμής (el) m (Ermís)
• Hebrew: מֶרְקוּרְיוּס‎ m (merkúrius)
• Hungarian: Merkúr (hu)
• Icelandic: Merkúríus (is) m
• Interlingua: Mercurio m
• Irish: Mearcair m
• Italian: Mercurio (it) m

• Japanese: メルクリウス (ja) (Merukuriusu), マーキュリー (Mākyurī)
• Khmer: ពុធ (km) (puth)
• Korean: 메르쿠리우스 (ko) (Mereukuriuseu)
• Latin: Mercurius (la) m
• Latvian: Merkurs m, Merkūrijs m
• Lithuanian: Merkurijus (lt) m
• Macedonian: Меркур m (Merkur)
• Maltese: Merkurju m
• Persian: مرکوری‎ (merkuri)
• Polish: Merkury (pl) m
• Portuguese: Mercúrio (pt) m
• Romanian: Mercur (ro) m
• Russian: Мерку́рий (ru) m (Merkúrij)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Меркур m

  Roman: Merkur (sh) m

• Slovak: Merkúr m
• Slovene: Merkúr (sl) m
• Spanish: Mercurio (es) m
• Swahili: Merkyuri
• Swedish: Merkurius (sv)
• Tatar: Merkuri
• Turkish: Merkür (tr)
• Ukrainian: Мерку́рій m (Merkúrij)
• Vietnamese: Thần Méc-cua, thần Mẹt-cu-rơ
• Welsh: Mercher (cy) m
• Zulu: uMerkuriyu

See also

• (planets of the Solar System) planets of the Solar System; Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

Solar System in English · Solar System (layout · text)
Star	Sun
Planets and most likely dwarf planets	Mercury	Venus	Earth	Mars	Ceres	Jupiter	Saturn	Uranus	Neptune	Pluto	Haumea	Makemake	Eris
Notable moons	—		Moon	Phobos Deimos	—	Ganymede Callisto Io Europa	Titan Rhea Iapetus Dione Tethys Enceladus Mimas	Titania Oberon Umbriel Ariel Miranda	Triton	Charon Hydra Nix Kerberos Styx	Hiʻiaka Namaka	(MK2)	Dysnomia

Noun

Mercury (plural Mercuries)

1. (obsolete) A carrier of tidings; a newsboy, a messenger. [16th–19th c.]
2. Someone who carries messages between lovers; a go-between. [from 17th c.]
   • 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, vol. II, ch. 63:

     His Mercury having made his observations, reported, that there was no body in the coach but Mrs. Hornbeck and an elderly woman, who had all the air of a duenna, and that the servant was not the same footman who had attended them in France.

3. (dated) A newspaper. [from 17th c.]
   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 21, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, OCLC 1069526323:

     No allusion to it is to be found in the monthly Mercuries.

Further reading

• Mercury (planet) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Mercury (mythology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for Mercury in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

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Middle English

Proper noun

Mercury

1. Alternative form of Mercurie