merpeople

1 8.9

Imaginary people with a human upper body and a fish tail who live in the sea

noun
/ˈmɜrˌpipəl/

Literature

: hombres pez

There aren't merpeople in the Black Lake, are there?

Examples

That you like to stir up trouble between humans and merpeople.

The Little Mermaid (2023)
Why, ruler of the Merpeople, lad.

The Little Mermaid (1989)
You know— with the other merpeople?

Fiction book (2000)
Merpeople.

The Little Mermaid (1989)
The ancient tales spoke of merpeople who lived in beautiful underwater cities.
In folklore, merpeople are often depicted as guardians of the ocean's treasures.
Many sailors claimed to have seen merpeople swimming alongside their ships during storms.

Synonyms

merfolk

vsmerpeople

Literature

1 8.8

An imaginary creature with a human upper body and a fish tail that lives in the sea

focuses on their presence in folklore and legends rather than only habitat

merrow

vsmerpeople

Literature

9.9

A woman or man with a fish tail who lives in the sea

is the wider mythic group found in many cultures not a regional form

fishman

vsmerpeople

Literature

9.9

A being with human features and fish parts from myths

is specifically the form with a human upper body and fish tail in folklore

Surface Forms

merpeople plural

merperson singular

Morphology

merpeople = merperson (transparent) = mer + people

Formed by combining the sea-related combining form 'mer-' with 'person'/'people' and pluralized; the meaning 'sea-people' is directly inferable.

Etymology

Merpeople comes from an old root mer- meaning 'sea' and the same part appears in mermaid, so you can think of merpeople as 'sea people'. That's why merpeople are beings with the upper body of a human and the tail of a fish who live in the ocean.