merman
"merman" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“merman” is uncommon English (frequency #58,844 among 36,575 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #58,844
- frequency rank, English
- 36,575
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A legendary creature, human male from the waist up, fishlike from the waist down.
Corpus desk
Index EN-merman · merman · English
merman · rank #58,844 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #58,844
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 36,575
- PHOTO-FINISH Meriden
Nearest frequency peer: Meriden (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “merman”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- menacingly
menacingly
41,160 corpus weight
- Meriden
Meriden
41,158 corpus weight
- merman
merman
41,157 corpus weight
- mete
mete
41,156 corpus weight
- Meuse
Meuse
41,155 corpus weight
- Mexicana
Mexicana
41,154 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “merman” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | merman |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #58,844 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “merman” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
merman is uncommon English at frequency #58,844 among 36,575 “M” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A legendary creature, human male from the waist up, fishlike from the waist down.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for merman, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English mereman, from Old English *meremann (“merman”) (suggested by Old English meremenn, meremennen, meremenin (“mermaid, siren”)), equivalent to mer- + man. Cognate with Dutch meerman (“merman”), German Meermann (“merman”). The correct English form is merman, spelled M-E-R-M-A-N.
Definition
- 1A legendary creature, human male from the waist up, fishlike from the waist down.
Etymology
From Middle English mereman, from Old English *meremann (“merman”) (suggested by Old English meremenn, meremennen, meremenin (“mermaid, siren”)), equivalent to mer- + man. Cognate with Dutch meerman (“merman”), German Meermann (“merman”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "merman", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.