merlin

See also: Merlin and Merlín

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɝlɪn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)lɪn

Etymology 1

From Middle English merlioun, merlion, marlyon, merlyon, merlinge, from Old French emerillon, esmerillon, from Old Frankish *smiril (“falcon, hawk”), from Proto-Germanic *smirilaz (“falcon, merlin”). Cognate with Old High German smirl (“falcon”), Old Norse smyrill (“falcon”).

Alternative forms

• marlin, marlion, marlyon, merline, merlion, merlon

Noun

merlin (plural merlins)

1. A small falcon, Falco columbarius, that breeds in northern North America, Europe, and Asia.

   Synonym: pigeon hawk

   • [c. 1381–1382, Geoffrey Chaucer, Parlement of Foules; republished as “The Assembly of Fowls”, in D[avid] Laing Purves, editor, The Canterbury Tales and Faerie Queene: With Other Poems of Chaucer and Spenser. […], Edinburgh: William P. Nimmo, 1874, →OCLC, page 220, column 2:

     The gentle falcon, that with its feet distraineth / The kingës hand; the hardy sperhawke eke, / The quailës foe; the merlion that paineth / Himself full oft the larkë for to seek; [...]]

   • 1991, Thomas S. Henricks, “Sport in Feudal England”, in Disputed Pleasures: Sport and Society in Preindustrial England (Contributions to the Study of World History; 28), Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 23:

     Smaller and less powerful falcons included the merlon, the hobby, and the kesterel.

Translations

small falcon

• Arabic: يؤيؤ (ar) m
• Aragonese: esmerellón
• Bashkir: яғалбай (yağalbay)
• Basque: belatz txiki
• Bulgarian: чучулигар m (čučuligar)
• Catalan: esmirla (ca) f, esmerla, falconet
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 灰背隼 (huībèisǔn)

• Czech: dřemlík m
• Danish: dværgfalk (da) c
• Faroese: smyril m
• Finnish: ampuhaukka (fi)
• French: faucon émerillon (fr) m, faucon merlin m
• German: Merlin (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: αἰσάλων m (aisálōn)

• Icelandic: smyrill (is) m
• Inari Sami: ciskeváálláš
• Japanese: 小長元坊 (kochōgenbō)
• Korean: 쇠황조롱이 (soehwangjorong'i)
• Kyrgyz: турумтай (ky) (turumtay)
• Latin: epileus m
• Lule Sami: dihttá
• Nahuatl: picīltōntli cuauhtohtli
• Navajo: chʼilhaatʼaʼii
• Northern Sami: cizášfálli
• Old Norse: smyrill m
• Ottoman Turkish: چاقر طوغان (çakır doğan)
• Persian: ترمتای (tarmatây), فرغو (farğu)
• Polish: drzemlik (pl) m
• Portuguese: esmerilhão (pt) m
• Russian: кре́чет (ru) m (kréčet), де́рбник (ru) m (dérbnik)
• Slovak: sokol kobec m
• Spanish: esmerejón m
• Swedish: stenfalk (sv) c
• Volapük: nänöfafalok

Etymology 2

Acronym of moesin-Ezrin-Radixin-like protein ‎ -in (“protein”)

Noun

merlin (uncountable)

1. (biochemistry) A cytoskeletal protein active in the suppression of tumors.

   Synonym: schwannomin

   Hypernym: protein

Related terms

• moesin
• ezrin
• radixin

Anagrams

• Milner, limner

French

Etymology

Perhaps from Latin marculus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛʁ.lɛ̃/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

Noun

merlin m (plural merlins)

1. splitting maul: an axe with a long handle, the blade of which is coupled with a broad side that can be used as a sledgehammer

Further reading

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