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merle

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merle¹

  • /mɜːl/ UK
  • /mɝl/ US

Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)l

Where it comes from

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.

noun merles

  1. A Eurasian blackbird, Turdus merula.
  2. Any blackbird.

merle²

  • /mɜːl/ UK
  • /mɝl/ US

Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)l

noun merles

  1. countable, uncountable A type of mottled coloration on dogs.
  2. countable, uncountable A dog having this coloration.

Merle³

Where it comes from

Borrowed from French Merle.

proper noun

  1. A surname from French of French origin.
  2. A male given name transferred from the surname. Merle Haggard is a name out of a morality play. And that's the kind of songs he sings.

Merle⁴

Where it comes from

English 19th-century bird name from merle (“blackbird”), possibly also a variant of Muriel, Merrill, etc.

proper noun

  1. A female given name from English. Her name was Merle, and to her name she always said she owed the fact that Gilbert Vanborough ever looked at her.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: ouzel, blackbird, merl, ousel, european blackbird, turdus merula, robin, smith, pech, nid, eurasian blackbird, common blackbird, woofell, redbreast, merulid, ring ouzel

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MLA

"merle." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/merle. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

merle. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/merle

Chicago

"merle." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/merle.

BibTeX
@misc{merle_2026,
  title = {merle},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/merle},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}