Standard Lemma guide

mermaid

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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

Pronunciation

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.

  • UK: /ˈmɜːˌmeɪd/
  • US: /ˈmɝ.meɪd/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: M ER1 M EY2 D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: mergirl, merlady, mermaiden, merwoman

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: merperson

2

noun

Meaning 2

Coloured a brilliant turquoise.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • a mermaid smoothie
  • mermaid ice-cream

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A prostitute.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: hooker, lady of the night, abandons, alley cat, almah, bangtail, Bankside lady, bargirl, bat, beotch, blouze, blowen, blowsabella, brass nail, brasser, brass, broad, business girl, calico queen, callet, cat, chippy, chromo, coaster, cockatrice, cocotte, comfort girl, comfort woman, commoner, Covent Garden nun, creature of the night, croshabell, daughter of joy, dollymop, doxy, drab, Dutch widow, escort, fille de joie, flap, floozie, fornicatrix, frail sister, Fulham virgin, gamester, gay lady, geebag, gillian, gill, girl of the game, girl rented overnight, good-time girl, GRO, hackney, harlot, Haymarket ware, hireling, 'ho, hoer, hoe, hook, hustler, Japayuki-san, jay, karayuki-san, laced mutton, lady of leisure, lady of light virtue, lady of pleasure, lady of the evening, lady of the game, lightskirt, loose woman, meat puppet, mermaid, minx, mob, moll, mort wap-apace, mot, mud kicker, mud-kicker, mudkicker, musk cat, mutton, nun, nymph of darkness, nymph of the pavé, nymph of the pavement, painted lady, Paphian, party girl, pavement princess, perdita, pimpette, pretty horsebreaker, priestess of Venus, pro skirt, prossie, prossy, pross, prostie, prostitute, prostitutor, prosty, prozzie, prozzy, pro, public woman, pucelle, puella publica, pug, punk, pussygirl, puta, put, quail, quean, quene, quiff, ribibe, scrubber, sex labourer, sex worker, skainsmate, skivvy, slag, slapper, slit, slut, sodomitess, soiled dove, stem siren, stew, street taco, strumpet, succubus, tart, tawaif, thotty, thot, tib, tom, treddle, trick turner, trollop, trug, trull, tweak, vice girl, wanton, wapping dell, wapping moll, wapping mort, wench, whore, woman of easy virtue, woman of ill fame, woman of ill repute, woman of the night, woman of the street, woman of the town, working girl

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

half woman and half fish; lives in the sea

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: imaginary being, imaginary creature

History

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”).

Across languages

Translations

140 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: sirenë — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Albanian: rusale — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Arabic: خَيَلَان (ḵayalān) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Arabic: اِبْنَة الْبَحْر — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Arabic: حُورِيَّة الْبَحْر — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Arabic: عَرُوسَة الْبَحْر — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Arabic: حُورِيَّة الْمَاء — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܟܲܠܬܵܐ ܕܝܵܡܵܐ (kaltā d-yāmā) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Armenian: ջրահարս (ǰrahars) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Asturian: serena — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Asturian: sirena — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Azerbaijani: supərisi — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Azerbaijani: su pərisi — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Belarusian: руса́лка (rusálka) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Belarusian: сірэ́на (siréna) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Belarusian: ная́да (najáda) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Bengali: মৎস্যকন্যা (motsśokonna) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Bulgarian: морска́ сире́на (morská siréna) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Bulgarian: русалка (rusalka) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Burmese: ရေသူမ (resuma.) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Catalan: sirena — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Chinese Cantonese: 人魚 /人鱼 (jan4 jyu4) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Chinese Cantonese: 美人魚 /美人鱼 (mei5 jan4 jyu4) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Chinese Mandarin: 人魚 /人鱼 (rényú) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Chinese Mandarin: 美人魚 /美人鱼 (měirényú) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Cornish: morvoren — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Czech: mořská panna — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Czech: mořská víla — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Danish: havfrue — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Dutch: zeemeermin — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Dutch: meermin — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Esperanto: sireno — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Esperanto: marvirino — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Estonian: merineitsi — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Faroese: havfrúgv — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Faroese: sævarmoy — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Finnish: merenneito — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • French: sirène — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Gagauz: deniz kızı — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Galician: serea — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Georgian: ქალთევზა (kaltevza) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Georgian: ალი (ali) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Georgian: სირინოზი (sirinozi) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • German: Nixe — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • German: Wassernixe — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • German: Seejungfrau — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • German: Meerjungfrau — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Greek: γοργόνα (gorgóna) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Greek: σειρήνα (seirína) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Hawaiian: wahine hiʻu iʻa — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Hebrew: בַּת יָם — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Hindi: जलपरी (jalparī) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Hindi: मत्स्यांगना (matsyāṅgnā) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Hungarian: hableány — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Hungarian: sellő — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Icelandic: hafmey — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Ido: sireno — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Indonesian: putri duyung — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Irish: maighdean mhara — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Irish: murúch — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Italian: sirena — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Japanese: 人魚 (ningyo) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Kashmiri: جل پری (jl prī) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Kazakh: су перісі (su perısı) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Khmer: មច្ឆានុ (macchaanuʼ) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Khmer: រក្សសី (rĕəʼksaʼsəy) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Korean: 인어 (ineo) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Kumyk: суванасы (suwanası) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Kyrgyz: суу периси (suu perisi) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Lao: ນາງເງືອກ (nāng ngư̄ak) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Lao: ເງືອກ (ngư̄ak) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Latin: Sīrēn — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Latin: femina marina — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Latin: puella marina — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Latin: semipuella marina — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Latin: oceanide — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Latin: Nereis — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Latvian: nāra — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Lithuanian: undinė — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Macedonian: сире́на (siréna) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Macedonian: морска самовила (morska samovila) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Macedonian: морска вила (morska vila) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Malay: ikan duyung — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Maltese: sirena — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Marathi: जलपरी (jalaprī) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Marathi: मत्स्यकन्या (matsyakanyā) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Navajo: chʼikę́ę́h łóóʼ — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Norwegian Bokmål: havfrue — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: havfru — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: havfrue — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Persian: پری دریایی (pari-ye daryâyi) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Polish: syrena — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Polish: rusałka — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Polish: panna wodna — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Polish: boginka — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Portuguese: sereia — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Romanian: sirenă — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Russian: руса́лка (rusálka) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Russian: сире́на (siréna) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Russian: ная́да (najáda) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Russian: морска́я де́ва (morskája déva) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Scottish Gaelic: maighdeann-mhara — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Serbo-Croatian: сирена — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Serbo-Croatian: sirena — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Slovak: morská panna — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Slovene: morska deklica — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Spanish: nereida — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Spanish: bicha — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Spanish: bestión — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Swedish: sjöjungfru — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Swedish: havsfru — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Tagalog: sirena — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Tajik: парии обӣ (pari-yi obi) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Tamil: நீர்மங்கை (nīrmaṅkai) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Tamil: கடற்கன்னி (kaṭaṟkaṉṉi) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Tatar: су анасы (su anası) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Telugu: మత్స్యకన్య (matsyakanya) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Thai: นางเงือก (naang-ngʉ̂ʉak) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Thai: เงือก (ngʉ̂ʉak) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Turkish: deniz kızı — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Turkish: denizkızı — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Turkish: susulu — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Turkish: susuna — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Turkmen: suw perisi — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Ukrainian: руса́лка (rusálka) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Ukrainian: сире́на (syréna) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Ukrainian: ная́да (najáda) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Ukrainian: морська́ ді́ва (morsʹká díva) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Ukrainian: морська́ па́нна (morsʹká pánna) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Uyghur: سۇ پەرىسى (su perisi) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Uzbek: rusalka — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Uzbek: suv parisi — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Vietnamese: nhân ngư — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Vietnamese: người cá — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Vietnamese: mỹ nhân ngư — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Vietnamese: tiên cá — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Vietnamese: nàng tiên cá — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Welsh: môr-forwyn — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Yiddish: ים־מיידל (yam-meydl) — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
  • Zealandic: merreminne — mythological woman with a fish’s tail
Real reading context

mermaid in complete knowledge articles