mer

See also: Appendix:Variations of "mer"

Translingual

Etymology

Clipping of English Meru and Meru Ameru.

Symbol

mer

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Meru.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Meru terms

English

Etymology 1

Noun

mer (plural mers)

1. (chemistry) A repeat unit: a structural unit which through repetition forms a polymer.
   • 2010, Mikell P. Groover, Fundamentals of Modern Manufacturing (4th Edition), page 9:

     A polymer is a compound formed of repeating structural units called mers, whose atoms share electrons to form very large molecules.

Derived terms

• nonadecamer

Etymology 2

Noun

mer pl (plural only)

1. (fantasy) merpeople
   • 2013, Missy Fleming, Into the Deep, page 65:

     There are mermaids and mermen everywhere. They swim above us and linger in nooks and arched doorways. It's impossible not to stare. The mer are as diverse as humans—all ages, size, shape, and color.

Etymology 3

See mayor.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

mer (plural mers)

1. (obsolete) Alternative form of mayor and mair.

Anagrams

• EMR, ERM, MRE, R.E.M., REM, Rem, erm, rem

Aromanian

Alternative forms

• meru

Etymology 1

From Late Latin mēlum, from Latin mālum. Compare Daco-Romanian măr.

Noun

mer n (plural meari/meare)

1. apple

Derived terms

• mirush

Etymology 2

From Vulgar Latin *mēlus, from Latin mālus.

Noun

mer m (plural meri)

1. apple tree

Derived terms

• agrumer
• miric

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin merus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈmer]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Adjective

mer (feminine mera, masculine plural mers, feminine plural meres)

1. mere, simple

Derived terms

• merament

Further reading

• “mer”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Cornish

Etymology 1

From Old Cornish mair, from Proto-Brythonic *maɨr, from Latin maior (“greater”). Cognate with Breton and Welsh maer.

Noun

mer m (plural meryon)

1. mayor

Derived terms

• meres f (“mayor, mayoress”)

Etymology 2

From Proto-Brythonic *mer, from Proto-Celtic *smerus. Cognate with Breton mel, Irish and Scottish Gaelic smior, Manx smuirr, and Welsh mêr.

Noun

mer m

1. (uncountable) bone marrow

Derived terms

• meryw (“juniper”)

Mutation

Mutation of mer

unmutated	soft	aspirate	hard	mixed	mixed after 'th
mer	ver	unchanged	unchanged	fer	ver

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Cornish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Faroese

Etymology

From Old Norse merr, from Proto-Germanic *marhijō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /meːɹ/
• Rhymes: -eːɹ

Noun

mer f (genitive singular merar, plural merar)

1. mare, female horse

   Synonym: ryssa

Declension

f6	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	mer	merin	merar	merarnar
accusative	mer	merina	merar	merarnar
dative	mer	merini	merum	merunum
genitive	merar	merarinnar	mera	meranna

French

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *mer-?

Proto-Indo-European *móri

Proto-Italic *mari

Latin mare

Old French mer

Middle French mer

French mer

Inherited from Middle French mer, from Old French mer, from Latin mare, from Proto-Italic *mari, from Proto-Indo-European *móri.

The word is almost unparalleled as a Latin neuter that has become feminine without being a backformation from a plural in -a (French -e). This has been ascribed to the influence of terre (“land”). In most other Romance languages it is a masculine, the main exception being Romanian mare f.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛʁ/

• Audio (Paris):

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• Audio (Canada):

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• Audio (France (Paris)):

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• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France):

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• Audio (France (Grenoble)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Hérault)):

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• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Audio (France (Massy)):

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• Rhymes: -ɛʁ
• Homophones: maire, maires, mère, mères, mers

Noun

mer f (plural mers)

1. (countable) sea (large body of water)
   • 2018, Zaz, J'aime, j'aime:

     J'aime, j'aime, j'aime la solitude parfois. mais j'aime pas les cris quand ils ne s'arrêtent pas, quand les émotions me plongent en mer enragée, quand le manque de moi me fait divaguer.

     I love, I love, I sometimes love the loneliness/solitude. But I don't love the crying [cries] when it [they] won't stop, when the emotions plunge me into the enraged sea, when the absence of myself makes me wander.

2. (uncountable, used with the definite article) the ocean (the continuous body of salt water covering a majority of the Earth's surface)

   Synonym: océan

Derived terms

• anémone de mer
• araignée de mer
• armée de mer
• bouteille à la mer
• bras de mer
• cardon de mer
• cigale de mer
• cochon de mer
• concombre de mer
• eau de mer
• écume de mer
• éléphant de mer
• étoile de mer
• fruit de mer
• haute mer
• hérisson de mer
• léopard de mer
• lis de mer
• loup de mer
• loutre de mer
• mal de mer
• mer Adriatique
• mer Baltique
• mer Blanche
• mer Caspienne
• mer d'Arabie
• mer d'Aral
• mer d'Azov
• mer de Barents
• mer de Chine méridionale
• mer de Chine orientale
• mer de Marmara
• mer de Myrto
• mer des Caraïbes
• mer d'huile
• mer d'Irlande
• mer d'Iroise
• mer du Japon
• mer du Nord
• mer Égée
• mer Ionienne
• mer Jaune
• mer Méditerranée
• mer Morte
• mer Noire
• mer Rouge
• mer Tyrrhénienne
• ne pas être la mer à boire
• niveau de la mer
• oreille de mer
• panicaut de mer
• perche de mer
• prendre la mer
• serpent de mer
• vache de mer

Related terms

• marin
• marine

Descendants

• Antillean Creole: lanmè
• Haitian Creole: lanmè
• → Volapük: mel

Further reading

• “mer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.