different between mermother vs mermaid

English

Etymology

From mer- +? mother.

Noun

mermother (plural mermothers)

1. (fantasy) A mother mermaid.
   • 1882, E. L. P, Elfie Under the Sea and Other Stories, Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co. (1882), page 21:

     "I shall never see my merfather or my mermother any more, or the mermaids, or the fish-king, or the merry dolphins, or-r-r-r " —

     "Never mind!" cried Elfie, crying too, and she put her arms around the sad little mermaid's neck.

   • 1993, Suzanne Weyn, Nefazia Visits the Palace, The Trumpet Club (1993), ?ISBN, page 43:

     Suddenly a lovely sound filled the air. Ariel turned toward it. Nefazia was sitting on the rock, singing. Her song was low and sweet, like a mermother crooning to her baby.

   • 2007, Michael Buckley, Peter Ferguson, The Problem Child:

     A mermother pushed an infant merbaby along the street in an old stroller. Soon Sabrina and the merman reached an enormous palace, nearly five stories high.

Coordinate terms

• merfather

English

Etymology

From Middle English mermayde (“maid of the sea”), from mere (“sea, lake”) + maid, equivalent to mer- +? maid. Compare Old English meremenn, meremennen, meremenin (“mermaid, siren”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?m??.me?d/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?m?.me?d/

Noun

mermaid (plural mermaids)

1. A mythological creature with a woman's head and upper body, and a tail of a fish.

   Synonyms: mergirl, merlady, mermaiden, merwoman

   Coordinate terms: melusine, nixie, siren

   Hypernym: merperson

   Hyponyms: mermother, merqueen

   Holonym: merfolk

2. (as a modifier) Coloured a brilliant turquoise.

3. (obsolete) A prostitute.

   Synonyms: hooker, lady of the night; see also Thesaurus:prostitute

Derived terms

• mermaid's purse
• mermaid skirt

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• mermaid on Wikipedia.Wikipedia