merle
/mɝl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.04 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
name
A male given name transferred from the surname.
name
A female given name from English.
Example Sentences
- "Merle Haggard is a name out of a morality play. And that's the kind of songs he sings."
- "Her name was Merle, and to her name she always said she owed the fact that Gilbert Vanborough ever looked at her."
- ""I wish I had a name like Merle Oberon or Miriam Hopkins," Mary Agnes said dreamily as she scanned the display of Coming Attractions."
Etymology
From Middle English merle, from Old French merle (French merle), from Latin merula (“blackbird”) (whence the directly borrowed Middle English merule, and compare the taxonomic name Turdus merula), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂mes- (“black, blackbird”). Compare Breton moualch (“ouzel”), Welsh mwyalch (“blackbird, thrush”). Distantly related to the synonymous ouzel.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /mɝl/
- British English: /mɜːl/