Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
noun
A porpoise or dolphin.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, poetic, rare
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: sea hog, sea pig, seaswine
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: whale, cetacean, mammal, vertebrate, animal, organism, creature
History
Inherited from Middle English mereswyn (“porpoise, dolphin”), from Old English mereswīn (“porpoise, dolphin”), from Proto-West Germanic *mariswīn, from Proto-Germanic *mariswīną (“dolphin, porpoise, cetacean”). By surface analysis, mere + swine or mer- + swine.
