Meanings
nounmermaid (plural mermaids)
plural mermaids
- A mythological creature with a woman's head and upper body, and a tail of a fish.
Search the depth, & ſee that variety of Sea monſters & fiſhes, Mare-maids, Sea men, Horſes, &c. which it affords.
1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 2, section 2, member 3, page 2101 more example
People that are drowned, and whose bodies are not founds are believed to have been taken into the dwellings of the Mermaids.
1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 242 - obsoleteA prostitute.
A Gentleman or an honeſt Cittizen, ſhall not Sit in your pennie-bench Theaters, vvith his Squirrell by his ſide cracking nuttes; nor ſneake into a Tauerne vvith his Mermaid; but he ſhall be Satyr'd and Epigram'd vpon, and his humour muſt run vpo'th Stage: […]
1601 (first performance), Thomas Dekker, Satiro-mastix. Or The Untrussing of the Humorous Poet. […], London: […] [Edward Allde] for Edward White, […], published 1602, →OCLC, signature H2, rectoSynonyms: hooker, lady of the night, abandons, alley cat, almah, bangtail, Bankside lady, bargirl
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA mythological creature with a woman's head and upper body, and a tail of a fish.
nounA prostitute.
Origin
- Middle Englishmermayde“maid of the sea”
- Englishmermaid
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”).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic خَيَلَان, اِبْنَة الْبَحْر
- خَيَلَان (ḵayalān)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
- اِبْنَة الْبَحْرmythological woman with a fish’s tail
- حُورِيَّة الْبَحْرmythological woman with a fish’s tail
- عَرُوسَة الْبَحْرmythological woman with a fish’s tail
- حُورِيَّة الْمَاءmythological woman with a fish’s tail
Bengali মৎস্যকন্যা
- মৎস্যকন্যা (motsśokonna)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
Bulgarian морска́ сире́на, русалка
- морска́ сире́на (morská siréna)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
- русалка (rusalka)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
Catalan sirena
- sirenamythological woman with a fish’s tail
Chinese Cantonese 人魚 /人鱼, 美人魚 /美人鱼
- 人魚 /人鱼 (jan⁴ jyu⁴)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
- 美人魚 /美人鱼 (mei⁵ jan⁴ jyu⁴)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
Chinese Mandarin 人魚 /人鱼, 美人魚 /美人鱼
- 人魚 /人鱼 (rényú)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
- 美人魚 /美人鱼 (měirényú)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
Czech mořská panna, mořská víla
- mořská pannamythological woman with a fish’s tail
- mořská vílamythological woman with a fish’s tail
Danish havfrue
- havfruemythological woman with a fish’s tail
Dutch zeemeermin, meermin
- zeemeerminmythological woman with a fish’s tail
- meerminmythological woman with a fish’s tail
Esperanto sireno, marvirino
- sirenomythological woman with a fish’s tail
- marvirinomythological woman with a fish’s tail
Estonian merineitsi
- merineitsimythological woman with a fish’s tail
Finnish merenneito
- merenneitomythological woman with a fish’s tail
French sirène
- sirènemythological woman with a fish’s tail
German Nixe, Wassernixe
- Nixemythological woman with a fish’s tail
- Wassernixemythological woman with a fish’s tail
- Seejungfraumythological woman with a fish’s tail
- Meerjungfraumythological woman with a fish’s tail
Greek γοργόνα, σειρήνα
- γοργόνα (gorgóna)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
- σειρήνα (seirína)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
Hawaiian wahine hiʻu iʻa
- wahine hiʻu iʻamythological woman with a fish’s tail
Hebrew בַּת יָם
- בַּת יָםmythological woman with a fish’s tail
Hindi जलपरी, मत्स्यांगना
- जलपरी (jalparī)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
- मत्स्यांगना (matsyāṅgnā)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
Hungarian hableány, sellő
- hableánymythological woman with a fish’s tail
- sellőmythological woman with a fish’s tail
Icelandic hafmey
- hafmeymythological woman with a fish’s tail
Indonesian putri duyung
- putri duyungmythological woman with a fish’s tail
Irish maighdean mhara, murúch
- maighdean mharamythological woman with a fish’s tail
- murúchmythological woman with a fish’s tail
Italian sirena
- sirenamythological woman with a fish’s tail
Japanese 人魚
- 人魚 (ningyo)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
Korean 인어
- 인어 (ineo)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
Latin Sīrēn, femina marina
- Sīrēnmythological woman with a fish’s tail
- femina marinamythological woman with a fish’s tail
- puella marinamythological woman with a fish’s tail
- semipuella marinamythological woman with a fish’s tail
- oceanidemythological woman with a fish’s tail
- Nereismythological woman with a fish’s tail
Latvian nāra
- nāramythological woman with a fish’s tail
Lithuanian undinė
- undinėmythological woman with a fish’s tail
Malay ikan duyung
- ikan duyungmythological woman with a fish’s tail
Norwegian Bokmål havfrue
- havfruemythological woman with a fish’s tail
Persian پری دریایی
- پری دریایی (pari-ye daryâyi)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
Polish syrena, rusałka
- syrenamythological woman with a fish’s tail
- rusałkamythological woman with a fish’s tail
- panna wodnamythological woman with a fish’s tail
- boginkamythological woman with a fish’s tail
Portuguese sereia
- sereiamythological woman with a fish’s tail
Romanian sirenă
- sirenămythological woman with a fish’s tail
Russian руса́лка, сире́на
- руса́лка (rusálka)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
- сире́на (siréna)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
- ная́да (najáda)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
- морска́я де́ва (morskája déva)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
Scottish Gaelic maighdeann-mhara
- maighdeann-mharamythological woman with a fish’s tail
Slovak morská panna
- morská pannamythological woman with a fish’s tail
Spanish bicha, bestión
- bichamythological woman with a fish’s tail
- bestiónmythological woman with a fish’s tail
Swedish sjöjungfru, havsfru
- sjöjungfrumythological woman with a fish’s tail
- havsfrumythological woman with a fish’s tail
Tagalog sirena
- sirenamythological woman with a fish’s tail
Tamil நீர்மங்கை, கடற்கன்னி
- நீர்மங்கை (nīrmaṅkai)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
- கடற்கன்னி (kaṭaṟkaṉṉi)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
Thai นางเงือก, เงือก
- นางเงือก (naang-ngʉ̂ʉak)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
- เงือก (ngʉ̂ʉak)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
Turkish deniz kızı, denizkızı
- deniz kızımythological woman with a fish’s tail
- denizkızımythological woman with a fish’s tail
- susulumythological woman with a fish’s tail
- susunamythological woman with a fish’s tail
Ukrainian руса́лка, сире́на
- руса́лка (rusálka)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
- сире́на (syréna)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
- ная́да (najáda)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
- морська́ ді́ва (morsʹká díva)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
- морська́ па́нна (morsʹká pánna)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
Vietnamese nhân ngư, người cá
- nhân ngưmythological woman with a fish’s tail
- người cámythological woman with a fish’s tail
- mỹ nhân ngưmythological woman with a fish’s tail
- tiên cámythological woman with a fish’s tail
- nàng tiên cámythological woman with a fish’s tail
Welsh môr-forwyn
- môr-forwynmythological woman with a fish’s tail
Yiddish ים־מיידל
- ים־מיידל (yam-meydl)mythological woman with a fish’s tail
Cite this entry
APA
mermaid. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mermaid
MLA
“mermaid.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mermaid. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mermaid,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mermaid.
Source: mermaid on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.