merwife
English
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merwife
Where it comes from
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”).
noun merwives
- A mermaid.
Talk about this word "merwife." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/merwife. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. merwife. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/merwife "merwife." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/merwife.Cite this
@misc{merwife_2026,
title = {merwife},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/merwife},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
