merlin

merlin

See also: Merlin and Merlín

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɝlɪn/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)lɪn

Etymology 1

From Middle English merlioun, merlion, marlyon, merlyon, merlinge, from Old French emerillon, esmerillon, from Old Frankish *smiril (“falcon, hawk”), from Proto-Germanic *smirilaz (“falcon, merlin”). Cognate with Old High German smirl (“falcon”), Old Norse smyrill (“falcon”).

Alternative forms

• marlin, marlion, marlyon, merline, merlion, merlon

Noun

merlin (plural merlins)

1. A small falcon, Falco columbarius, that breeds in northern North America, Europe, and Asia.

   Synonym: pigeon hawk

   • [c. 1381–1382, Geoffrey Chaucer, Parlement of Foules; republished as “The Assembly of Fowls”, in D[avid] Laing Purves, editor, The Canterbury Tales and Faerie Queene: With Other Poems of Chaucer and Spenser. […], Edinburgh: William P. Nimmo, 1874, OCLC 16857511, page 220, column 2:

     The gentle falcon, that with its feet distraineth / The kingës hand; the hardy sperhawke eke, / The quailës foe; the merlion that paineth / Himself full oft the larkë for to seek; [...]]

   • 1991, Thomas S. Henricks, “Sport in Feudal England”, in Disputed Pleasures: Sport and Society in Preindustrial England (Contributions to the Study of World History; 28), Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN, ISSN 0885-9159, page 23:

     Smaller and less powerful falcons included the merlon, the hobby, and the kesterel.

Translations

small falcon

Arabic: يؤيؤ‎ (ar) m Aragonese: esmerellón Bashkir: яғалбай (yağalbay) Basque: belatz txiki Bulgarian: чучулигар m (čučuligar) Catalan: esmirla (ca) f, esmerla, falconet Chinese: Mandarin: 灰背隼 (huībèisǔn) Czech: dřemlík m Danish: dværgfalk (da) c Faroese: smyril m Finnish: ampuhaukka (fi) French: faucon émerillon (fr) m, faucon merlin m German: Merlin (de) m Inari Sami: ciskeváálláš Japanese: コチョウゲンボウ (kochōgenbō) Korean: 쇠황조롱이 (soehwangjorong'i) Kyrgyz: турумтай (ky) (turumtay) Latin: epileus m Lule Sami: dihttá Nahuatl: picīltōntli cuauhtohtli Navajo: chʼilhaatʼaʼii Northern Sami: cizášfálli Old Norse: smyrill m Persian: ترمتای‎ (tarmatây), فرغو‎ (farğu) Polish: drzemlik (pl) m Portuguese: esmerilhão (pt) m Russian: кре́чет (ru) m (kréčet), де́рбник (ru) m (dérbnik) Slovak: sokol kobec m Spanish: esmerejón m Swedish: stenfalk (sv) c Volapük: nänöfafalok

Etymology 2

Acronym of moesin-Ezrin-Radixin-like protein +‎ -in (“protein”)

Noun

merlin (uncountable)

1. (biochemistry) A cytoskeletal protein active in the suppression of tumors.

   Synonym: schwannomin

   Hypernym: protein

Related terms

• moesin
• ezrin
• radixin

Anagrams

• Milner, limner

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛʁ.lɛ̃/

• Audio (Paris)

  (file)

Noun

merlin m (plural merlins)

1. splitting maul: an axe with a long handle, the blade of which is coupled with a broad side that can be used as a sledgehammer

Further reading

• “merlin”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.