merry
mer·ry/ˈmɛ.ɹi/adjective, noun
merry is spelled M-E-R-R-Y: 5 letters and 2 syllables (mer·ry). It appears 6.8 times per million words in written English, the 9,165th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “marry vs merry” about 480 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, merry means “Jolly and full of high spirits; happy” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in merry?
| Letters | 5: M-E-R-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: mer·ry |
| In writing | 6.8 times per million words; the 9,165th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is merry?
Merry appears 6.8 times per million words in written English, the 9,165th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce merry?
- UK /ˈmɛ.ɹi/
- US /ˈmɛ.ɹi/
- /ˈmɛ(ə)ɹ.i/
Merry has 2 syllables, split mer·ry in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-ne-merry.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Grendelkhan-merry.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with merry
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with merry?
9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as merry from its last stressed vowel (/ɛɹi/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of merry
- merrier comparative
- merriest superlative
- merries plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does merry mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Jolly and full of high spirits; happy.
We had a very merry Christmas.
- 2
Festive and full of fun and laughter.
Everyone was merry at the party.
- 3
Brisk.
The play moved along at a merry pace.
- 4
Causing laughter, mirth, gladness, or delight.
a merry jest
- 5
Drunk; tipsy.
Some of us got a little merry at the office Christmas party.
noun
- 1
An English wild cherry.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Merry in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | joyeux |
| German | fröhlich, froh, gut gelaunt |
| Portuguese | alegre , festivo |
| Spanish | alegre, jacarandoso , festivo |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does merry come from?
From Middle English myrie, merie, mery, from Old English myrġe, myriġe (“pleasing, agreeable; pleasant, sweet, delightful; melodious”), from Proto-West Germanic *murgī (“short, slow, leisurely”), from Proto-Germanic *murguz (“short, slow”), from Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus (“short”). Cognate with Scots mery, mirry (“merry”), Middle Dutch mergelijc (“pleasant, agreeable, joyful”), Norwegian dialectal myrjel (“small object, figurine”), Latin brevis (“short, small, narrow, shallow”), Ancient Greek βραχύς (brakhús, “short”). Doublet of brief.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).