Etymology

merfolk

M3E1R1F4O1L1K5

Today it means: Mythical creatures that are human from the waist up and fish from the waist down. Full definition →

English folk ← Middle English folk ← Old English folc
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The story

  1. Englishmer-
  2. Proto-Germanic*fulką
  3. Proto-West Germanic*folk
  4. Old Englishfolc
  5. Middle Englishfolk
  6. Englishfolk
  7. English todaymerfolk

From mer- + folk.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.