mermaid

English

John W. Waterhouse, A Mermaid, 1900

Etymology

From Middle English mermayde (“maid of the sea”), from mere (“sea, lake”) +‎ maid, equivalent to mer- +‎ maid. Compare Old English meremenn, meremennen, meremenin (“mermaid, siren”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈməː.meɪd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɝ.meɪd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

mermaid (plural mermaids)

1. A mythological creature with a woman's head and upper body, and a tail of a fish.

   Synonyms: mergirl, merlady, mermaiden, merwoman

   Coordinate terms: melusine, nixie, siren

   Hypernym: merperson

   Hyponyms: mermother, merqueen

   Holonym: merfolk

2. (as a modifier) Coloured a brilliant turquoise.

   mermaid smoothie

3. (obsolete) A prostitute.

   Synonyms: hooker, lady of the night; see also Thesaurus:prostitute

   • 1601 (first performance), Thomas Dekker, Satiro-mastix. Or The Vntrussing of the Humorous Poet. […], London: […] [Edward Allde] for Edward White, […], published 1602, OCLC 837266771, signature H2, recto:

     A Gentleman or an honeſt Cittizen, ſhall not Sit in your pennie-bench Theaters, vvith his Squirrell by his ſide cracking nuttes; nor ſneake into a Tauerne vvith his Mermaid; but he ſhall be Satyr'd and Epigram'd vpon, and his humour muſt run vpo'th Stage: […]

Derived terms

• mermaid's purse
• mermaid skirt

Related terms

• merman
• merewif
• merwolf
• mereswine

Translations

mythological woman with a fish’s tail

• Albanian: sirenë (sq) f, rusale f
• Arabic: خَيَلَان‎ f (ḵayalān), اِبْنَة الْبَحْر‎ f (ibna(t) al-baḥr), حُورِيَّة الْبَحْر‎ f (ḥūriyya(t) al-baḥr), عَرُوسَة الْبَحْر‎ f (ʿarūsa(t) al-baḥr), حُورِيَّة الْمَاء‎ f (ḥūriyya(t) al-māʾ)
• Armenian: ջրահարս (hy) (ǰrahars)
• Asturian: serena f, sirena f
• Azerbaijani: supərisi, su pərisi
• Belarusian: руса́лка f (rusálka), сірэ́на f (siréna), ная́да f (najáda)
• Bengali: মৎস্যকন্যা (môtśjôkônja)
• Bulgarian: морска́ сире́на f (morská siréna), русалка (bg) f (rusalka)
• Burmese: ရေသူမ (my) (resuma.)
• Catalan: sirena (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 人魚, 人鱼 (jan⁴ jyu⁴), 美人魚, 美人鱼 (mei⁵ jan⁴ jyu⁴)

  Mandarin: 人魚 (zh), 人鱼 (zh) (rényú), 美人魚 (zh), 美人鱼 (zh) (měirényú)

• Cornish: morvoren f
• Czech: mořská panna f
• Danish: havfrue c
• Dutch: zeemeermin (nl) f, meermin (nl) f
• Esperanto: sireno, marvirino
• Estonian: merineitsi
• Finnish: merenneito (fi)
• French: sirène (fr) f
• Galician: serea (gl) f
• Georgian: ქალთევზა (kaltevza), ალი (ka) (ali), სირინოზი (sirinozi)
• German: Nixe (de) f, Wassernixe f, Seejungfrau f, Meerjungfrau (de) f
• Greek: γοργόνα (el) f (gorgóna), σειρήνα (el) f (seirína)
• Hawaiian: wahine hiʻu iʻa
• Hebrew: בַּת יָם‎ (he) f (bat yam)
• Hindi: जलपरी (jalparī), मत्स्यांगना (matsyāṅgnā)
• Hungarian: hableány (hu), sellő (hu)
• Icelandic: hafmey (is) f
• Ido: sireno (io)
• Irish: maighdean mhara f, murúch f
• Italian: sirena (it) f
• Japanese: 人魚 (ja) (にんぎょ, ningyo)
• Kazakh: су перісі (sw perisi)
• Khmer: មច្ឆានុ (km) (macchaanuʼ), រក្សសី (rĕəʼksaʼsəy)
• Korean: 인어(人魚) (ko) (ineo)
• Kumyk: суванасы (suwanası)
• Kyrgyz: суу периси (suu perisi)

• Lao: ນາງເງືອກ (nāng ngư̄ak), ເງືອກ (ngư̄ak)
• Latin: Sirena f, femina marina, puella marina, semipuella marina, oceanide f, Nereis f
• Latvian: nāra (lv) f
• Lithuanian: undinė f
• Macedonian: сире́на f (siréna), морска самовила f (morska samovila), морска вила f (morska vila)
• Malay: ikan duyung
• Maltese: sirena f
• Navajo: chʼikę́ę́h łóóʼ
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: havfrue m or f

  Nynorsk: havfru f, havfrue f

• Persian: پری دریایی‎ (pari-ye daryâyi)
• Polish: syrena (pl) f, rusałka (pl) f, panna wodna (pl) f, boginka f
• Portuguese: sereia (pt) f
• Romanian: sirenă (ro) f
• Russian: руса́лка (ru) f (rusálka), сире́на (ru) f (siréna), ная́да (ru) f (najáda), морска́я де́ва f (morskája déva)
• Scottish Gaelic: maighdeann-mhara f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сирена

  Roman: sirena (sh)

• Slovak: morská panna f
• Slovene: morska deklica (sl) f
• Spanish: sirena (es) f
• Swedish: sjöjungfru (sv) c, havsfru (sv) c
• Tagalog: sirena
• Tajik: парии обӣ (pariyi obī)
• Tatar: су анасы (su anası)
• Telugu: మత్స్యకన్య (matsyakanya)
• Thai: นางเงือก (th) (naang-ngʉ̂ʉak), เงือก (th) (ngʉ̂ʉak)
• Translingual: 🧜‍♀️
• Turkish: deniz kızı (tr), denizkızı (tr), susulu, susuna
• Turkmen: suw perisi
• Ukrainian: руса́лка (uk) f (rusálka), сире́на f (syréna), ная́да f (najáda), морська́ ді́ва f (morsʹká díva), морська́ па́нна f (morsʹká pánna)
• Uzbek: rusalka, suv parisi
• Vietnamese: nhân ngư, người cá, mỹ nhân ngư (美人魚)
• Welsh: môr-forwyn f
• Yiddish: ים־מיידל‎ n (yam-meydl)
• Zealandic: merreminne f

Further reading

• mermaid on Wikipedia.Wikipedia