mermaid

noun

mer·​maid ˈmər-ˌmād 

: a fabled marine creature with the head and upper body of a woman and the tail of a fish

Examples of mermaid in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Mermaid Look For the mermaid, one of the biggest visual challenges, the team opted for practical rather than CGI effects, for budget reasons but also to allow for more realistic scenes. —Annika Pham, Variety, 22 Apr. 2026

Greek director Konstantina Kotzamani’s Titanic Ocean, coming-of-age tale set in a special boarding school in Japan that trains teenage girls into professional mermaids, will also debut in Un Certain Regard. —Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 22 Apr. 2026

For a dressier take, style it with a lace midi skirt like this one, which has a similar mermaid-style silhouette to the one Longoria wore. —Jeaneen Russell, PEOPLE, 20 Apr. 2026

This August’s is Deep Sea Disco, so dust off your mermaid tail, cue the Donna Summer, and prepare for the ocean floor and the dance floor to collide. —Cameron Sperance, Travel + Leisure, 18 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English mermayde, from mere sea (from Old English) + mayde maid — more at marine

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for mermaid

• afraid
• allayed
• arcade
• arrayed
• assayed
• barmaid
• betrayed
• blockade
• bridesmaid
• brigade
• brocade
• buffeted

Kids Definition

mermaid

noun

mer·​maid ˈmər-ˌmād 

: an imaginary sea creature usually represented with a woman's body and a fish's tail

Etymology

Middle English mermayde "mermaid," from mere "lake, pool, sea" and mayde "maid"