Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

merwife

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables
mer-wife
IPA
15
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A mermaid.

Etymology

From Old English merewīf (“water witch, mermaid”), potentially to an earlier Proto-West Germanic *mariwīb, from Proto-Germanic *mariwībą (“mermaid, siren”). By surface analysis, mer- + wife. Cognate with Old High German meriwīb. The construction varries regionally for the same basic folklore in Europe. Compare Old Swedish marnunna (literally “mer-nun”), Swedish havsfru (literally “sea-wife”), English mermaid (literally “mer-maiden”).

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: merewīf, *mariwīb, *mariwībą

Inflected Forms

merwives (plural)

Questions

What does merwife mean?
A mermaid.
Where does merwife come from?
It is traced to Old English.

How to pronounce merwife

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “merwife”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “merwife”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “merwife” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.