mère

¹

[mer, mair]

noun

French.

plural

mères 

1. mother.

mere

²

[meer]

noun

1. Chiefly British Dialect.,  a lake or pond.

2. Obsolete.,  any body of sea water.

-mere

³

1. a combining form meaning “part,” used in the formation of compound words.

   blastomere.

mere

⁴

[meer]

adjective

superlative

merest 

1. being nothing more nor better than.

   a mere pittance;

   He is still a mere child.

2. Obsolete.

   1. pure and unmixed, as wine, a people, or a language.

   2. fully as much as what is specified; completely fulfilled or developed; absolute.

mere

⁵

Or mear

[meer]

noun

British Dialect.

1. a boundary or boundary marker.

mere

¹

/ mɪə /

adjective

1. being nothing more than something specified

   she is a mere child

mere

²

/ mɪə /

noun

1. archaic,  a lake or marsh

2. obsolete,  the sea or an inlet of it

mere

³

/ ˈmɛrɪ /

noun

1. a short flat striking weapon

-mere

⁴

combining form

1. indicating a part or division

   blastomere

mere

⁵

/ mɪə /

noun

1. archaic,  a boundary or boundary marker

–mere

1. A suffix meaning “part” or “segment,” as in blastomere, one of the cells that form a blastula.

Other Word Forms

• -meric combining form

Word History and Origins

Origin of –mere¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English mere, mer, meire, Old English mer, mære “sea, ocean, lake, pond, well, cistern,” cognate with German Meer, Old Norse marr, Gothic marei, Old Irish muir, Latin mare

Origin of –mere²

Combining form representing Greek méros

Origin of –mere³

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English mer(e) “pure, clear, unmixed,” from Old French mier, mer, from Latin merus “pure, unmixed, simple, mere”

Origin of –mere⁴

First recorded before 900; Middle English mere, mer, merre, Old English mǣre, gemǣre; cognate with Old Norse mæri “boundary, border land”; akin to Latin mūrus “defensive wall, city wall, boundary wall”

Word History and Origins

Origin of –mere¹

C15: from Latin merus pure, unmixed

Origin of –mere²

Old English mere sea, lake; related to Old Saxon meri sea, Old Norse marr, Old High German mari; compare Latin mare

Origin of –mere³

Māori

Origin of –mere⁴

from Greek meros part, portion

Origin of –mere⁵

Old English gemǣre

Synonym Study

Mere, bare imply a scant sufficiency. They are often interchangeable, but mere frequently means no more than (enough). Bare suggests scarcely as much as (enough). Thus a mere livelihood means enough to live on but no more; a bare livelihood means scarcely enough to live on.

Example Sentences

Firms who would have previously hired PwC consultants to sift through data and documents may now use AI models instead, turning weeks of costly work into mere minutes.

Read more on BBC

Average hourly earnings in September increased a mere 0.2%, meaning real wages after inflation declined that month.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The result was a mere 17 goals conceded, but difficulty putting the ball in the net at the other end meant they had to settle for second place in the table behind Manchester United.

Read more on BBC

When capital relies on the sale of neither skill nor labor, but mere body, that isn’t free enterprise.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Halligan’s confession comes mere days after a federal judge accused prosecutors of “profound investigative misteps” that could “potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding.”

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• bare 
• minor 
• pure 
• sheer 
• simple 

When To Use

What does -mere mean?

The combining form -mere is used like a suffix meaning “part.” It is often used in scientific terms, especially in biology and anatomy.The form -mere comes from Greek méros, meaning “part” or “portion.” From this same source, we also get the combining forms -mer and -merous. Want to know more? Check out our Words That Use entries for both forms.