mere

mere · adjective¹

1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*mērijaz
2. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*mārī
3. Old English · derived frommǣre“famous, great, excellent, sublime, splendid, pure, sterling”
4. Middle English · derived frommere“glorious, noble, splendid, fine, pure”
5. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*mer-“to sparkle, gleam”
6. Latin · derived frommerus“pure, unmixed, undiluted”
7. Old French · derived frommier
8. Anglo-Norman · derived frommeer
9. Middle English · inherited frommere
10. English todaymere

From Middle English mere, mer, from Anglo-Norman meer, from Old French mier, from Latin merus (“pure, unmixed, undiluted”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer- (“to sparkle, gleam”). Cognate with Old English āmerian, āmyrian (“to purify, examine, revise”). The Middle English word was perhaps influenced by or conflated with sound-alike Middle English mere (“glorious, noble, splendid, fine, pure”), from Old English mǣre (“famous, great, excellent, sublime, splendid, pure, sterling”), from Proto-West Germanic *mārī, from Proto-Germanic *mērijaz.

mere · noun, verb²

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*mey-“to fence”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*mairiją“boundary”
3. Old English · inherited frommǣre
4. Middle English · inherited frommere
5. English todaymere

From Middle English mere, from Old English mǣre, ġemǣre (“boundary; limit”), from Proto-Germanic *mairiją (“boundary”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to fence”). Cognate with Dutch meer (“a limit, boundary”), Icelandic mærr (“borderland”), Swedish landamäre (“border, borderline, boundary”).

mere · noun³

1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*móri
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*mari
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*mari“sea”
4. Old English · inherited frommere
5. Middle English · inherited frommere
6. English todaymere

From Middle English mere, from Old English mere (“lake, pool,” in compounds and poetry “sea”), from Proto-West Germanic *mari (“sea”), from Proto-Germanic *mari, from Proto-Indo-European *móri. Cognate with West Frisian mar (“lake”), Dutch meer (“lake”), Low German Meer, and German Meer (“sea”). Non-Germanic cognates include Latin mare, Breton mor, and Russian мо́ре (móre). Doublet of maar and mare (“a large, dark plain; a lake on Titan”).

mere · noun⁴

See mayor.

mere · noun⁵

1. Māori · borrowed frommere“more”
2. English todaymere

Borrowed from Māori mere (“more”).

Mere · proper noun⁶

1. Old Dutch · derived frommeri“lake, sea”
2. Middle Dutch · derived frommēre
3. Old English · derived frommere“lake, pond”
4. English todayMere

# For the places in England: from Old English mere (“lake, pond”). # For the place in Belgium: from Middle Dutch mēre, from Old Dutch meri (“lake, sea”).

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 16th c. Just, only; no more than, pure and simple, neither more nor better than might be expected.
• 8th–17th c. Pure, unalloyed .
• 15th–18th c. Nothing less than; complete, downright .