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. Cognate with Dutch meermeid (“mermaid”), Middle High German mermaget, mermeit ("mermaid"; > German Meermagd, Meermädchen (“mermaid”)). Compare Old English meremenn, meremennen, meremenin (“mermaid, siren”).

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɜːˌmeɪd/
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɝ.meɪd/
- Audio (US) (file)

Noun

mermaid (plural mermaids)

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
(as a modifier) Coloured a brilliant turquoise.
mermaid smoothie
(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

mereswine
merewif
merman
merwolf

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)
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܟܲܠܬܵܐ ܕܝܵܡܵܐ‎ f (kaltā d-yāmā)
Asturian: serena f, sirena f
Azerbaijani: supərisi, su pərisi
Belarusian: руса́лка f (rusálka), сірэ́на f (siréna), ная́да f (najáda)
Bengali: মৎস্যকন্যা (môtsẏkônẏa)
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／人鱼 (zh) (rényú), 美人魚／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 (su perısı)
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 (pl) 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)
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), tiên cá
Welsh: môr-forwyn f
Yiddish: ים־מיידל‎ n (yam-meydl)
Zealandic: merreminne f