mermaid
Americannoun
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mermaids
plural
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(in folklore) a female marine creature, having the head, torso, and arms of a woman and the tail of a fish.
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a highly skilled female swimmer.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of mermaid
First recorded in 1300–50, mermaid is from the Middle English word mermayde. See mere 2, maid
Explanation
A mermaid is mythical sea creature that has the head and upper body of a woman and a tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in folklore from around the world, from the ancient Greek sirens who were said to lure sailors to a watery death, to the Mami Wata water spirits from African mythology. The Disney version of mermaids comes from the Hans Christian Andersen story "The Little Mermaid," about a mermaid who trades her life in the sea for love with a human. Mermaid means "maid of the sea," from mere, "sea" in Middle English.
Vocabulary lists containing mermaid
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
While looking over the proofs for her latest cookbook, she picked up a marker and drew a mermaid.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
Of course, some of what he exhibited for his patrons had nothing to do with the real world—like his infamous Fiji mermaid, purportedly half monkey, half fish.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 25, 2026
In the interview, Dunst revealed she has a few projects lined up, including Ruben Östlund’s film “The Entertainment System Is Down,” Sofia Coppola’s next film and a mermaid story with Oscar-winner Mikey Madison.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2025
It is amusing to see young Reubens in drag as a kid at Halloween, or playing a Cher-inspired mermaid in a video he made while at college.
From Salon ● Jan. 30, 2025
She'd looked like a vision there, a mermaid.
From "Eleanor & Park" by Rainbow Rowell
My boy is such a traditional boy, and then the girls want to dress up like mermaids and princesses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 28, 2026
"Poor mermaids, in tales they're always being kidnapped or dragged somewhere or shot - they're treated really terribly, they're not usually happy stories," said Pratchett.
From BBC ● Dec. 21, 2023
In my forthcoming book, I consider the relationship between mermaids and Barbie dolls.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2023
Mythical hybrid beasts such as mermaids, centaurs and chimeras testify to our enduring fascination with the plasticity of biological form: the idea that natural organisms can mutate or be reconfigured.
From Scientific American ● May 31, 2023
The silence of Fisher People and waxy mermaids.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
