mermaid
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John W. Waterhouse, A Mermaid, 1900
English
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
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
- Hypernym: merperson
- Hyponyms: mermother, merqueen
- Holonym: merfolk
- Coordinate terms: melusine, nixie, siren
- 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: , 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 2, section 2, member 3, page 210:
- Search the depth, & ſee that variety of Sea monſters & fiſhes, Mare-maids, Sea men, Horſes, &c. which it affords.
- 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 242:
- People that are drowned, and whose bodies are not founds are believed to have been taken into the dwellings of the Mermaids.
- (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 Untrussing of the Humorous Poet. , London: [Edward Allde] for Edward White, , published 1602, →OCLC, 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
- false mermaid (Floerkea proserpinacoides)
- Fiji mermaid
- mermaid skirt
- mermaid syndrome
- mermaid tresses
- mermaid's fishing line (Chorda filum)
- mermaid's glove (Haliclona oculata; Alcyonium digitatum)
- mermaid's hair (Lyngbya majuscula)
- mermaid's head (Spatengus spp.; Amphidetus cordatus)
- mermaid's purse
- mermaid's toenail (Anomiidae spp.)
- mermaid's tresses (Chorda filum)
- mermaidweed (Floerkea proserpinacoides)
- reverse mermaid
Related terms
Translations
mythological woman with a fish’s tail
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