merle

Meaning

Noun

• The Eurasian blackbird, Turdus merula.
• Any blackbird.
• A type of mottled colouration on dogs.

Origin

• From Middle English merle, from Old French merle (French merle), from Latin merula (whence the directly borrowed Middle English merule, and compare the taxonomic name Turdus merula), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂mes- ("black, blackbird"). Confer Breton moualch ("ouzel"), Welsh mwyalch ("blackbird, thrush"). Distantly related to the synonymous ouzel.