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merlioun. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
merlioun, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
merlioun in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
merlioun you have here. The definition of the word
merlioun will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
merlioun, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Middle English
- amerlyon, emerlion, emerlyoun, marlyon, merilioun, merleyn, merliȝon, merlion, merlone, merlyn, merlyon, merlyone, merlyoun
Etymology
From earlier *emerlioun, emerlyoun, borrowed from Old French esmerillon, diminutive of esmeril, from Frankish *smiril, from Proto-Germanic *smirilaz.
The borrowing of monosyllabic Old French /ʎun/ as disyllabic /liˈuːn/ and the tendency for it to reduce to /lin/ rather than /ljun/ is probably to avoid the creation of a cluster /rlj/, though influence from lioun (“lion”) is also possible.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /(ɛ)ˌmɛrliˈuːn/, /(ɛ)ˈmɛrljun/, /ˈmɛrlin/
Noun
merlioun
- merlin (the falcon Falco columbarius)
Descendants
References