mermaid

CEFRC2

/ˈmɜːˌmeɪd/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A mythical sea creature with a woman's upper body and fish tail.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A prostitute.

Examples

  • The legend says that she was a mermaid.

  • The little mermaid sighed and looked sadly at her fish tail.

At a glance

Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
1
Citations
3
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. Coloured a brilliant turquoise.

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

More examples

In context

  • a mermaid smoothie

  • mermaid ice-cream

  • People that are drowned, and whose bodies are not founds are believed to have been taken into the dwellings of the Mermaids.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

In the story, the blank was half woman and half fish, living in the ocean.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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”).