merle

See also: Merle

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /mɜːl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /mɝl/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)l

Etymology 1

From Middle English merle, from Old French merle (French merle), from Latin merula (“blackbird”) (whence the directly borrowed Middle English merule, and compare the taxonomic name Turdus merula), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂mes- (“black, blackbird”). Compare Breton moualch (“ouzel”), Welsh mwyalch (“blackbird, thrush”). Distantly related to the synonymous ouzel.

Noun

merle (plural merles)

1. A Eurasian blackbird, Turdus merula.
2. Any blackbird.

Translations

Eurasian blackbird, Turdus merula

• Bulgarian: кос (bg) m (kos)
• Polish: kos (pl) m, kos zwyczajny m

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

merle (countable and uncountable, plural merles)

1. A type of mottled coloration on dogs.
2. A dog having this coloration.

Derived terms

• merled

Anagrams

• Lemer, Elmer, Emler

French

Etymology

Inherited from Latin merula, the word for the male blackbird being mostly female until the 16th century. Probable influence of the Late Latin masculine form merulus.

Cognates

• Galician melro, merla, merlo, merliño
• Italian merlo
• Spanish mirlo
• Portuguese melro

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛʁl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Noun

merle m (plural merles, feminine merlesse or merlette)

1. blackbird
   • 1944, “Le Temps des cerises”, performed by Yves Montand:

     Quand nous chanterons le temps des cerises / Et gai rossignol et merle moqueur / Seront tous en fête

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. Eurasian blackbird (Turdus merula)

Synonyms

• (blackbird): (Louisiana) tchoque, (Missouri) estorneau

Derived terms

• faute de grives on mange des merles
• grossier merle
• merle blanc
• merle d'Amérique

Anagrams

• mêler

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛr.le/
• Rhymes: -ɛrle
• Hyphenation: mèr‧le

Noun

merle f

1. plural of merla

Middle English

Noun

merle

1. alternative form of marle