merle
UK /mɜːl/ · US /mɝl/ noun, proper noun
Forms merles
- noun A Eurasian blackbird, Turdus merula.
- noun Any blackbird.
- noun A type of mottled coloration on dogs.
- noun A dog having this coloration.
- proper noun A surname from French of French origin.
- proper noun A male given name transferred from the surname.
- proper noun A female given name from English.
Synonyms
Etymology
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.
Borrowed from French Merle.
English 19th-century bird name from merle (“blackbird”), possibly also a variant of Muriel, Merrill, etc.
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [F. merle, L. merula, merulus. Cf. Ousel.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “merle”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details