"mer" meaning in French

See mer in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /mɛʁ/ Audio: Fr-mer.ogg , Qc-mer.oga Forms: mers [plural]
Rhymes: -ɛʁ Etymology: Inherited from Middle French mer, from Old French mer, from Latin mare, from Proto-Italic *mari, from Proto-Indo-European *móri. The word is almost unparalleled as a Latin neuter that has become feminine without being a backformation from a plural in -a (French -e). This has been ascribed to the influence of terre (“land”). In most other Romance languages it is a masculine, the main exception being Romanian mare f. Etymology templates: {{glossary|Inherited}} Inherited, {{inh|fr|frm|mer|||g=|g2=|g3=|id=|lit=|nocat=|pos=|sc=|sort=|tr=|ts=}} Middle French mer, {{inh+|fr|frm|mer}} Inherited from Middle French mer, {{inh|fr|fro|mer}} Old French mer, {{inh|fr|la|mare}} Latin mare, {{inh|fr|itc-pro|*mari}} Proto-Italic *mari, {{inh|fr|ine-pro|*móri}} Proto-Indo-European *móri, {{cog|ro|mare|g=f}} Romanian mare f Head templates: {{fr-noun|f}} mer f (plural mers)
  1. (countable) sea (large body of water) Tags: countable, feminine Categories (place): Bodies of water, Landforms
    Sense id: en-mer-fr-noun-FEjpl~TK Disambiguation of Bodies of water: 67 33 Disambiguation of Landforms: 52 48 Categories (other): French entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of French entries with incorrect language header: 92 8
  2. (uncountable, used with the definite article) the ocean (the continuous body of salt water covering a majority of the Earth's surface) Tags: feminine, uncountable Categories (place): Landforms Synonyms: océan
    Sense id: en-mer-fr-noun-AE7JiYuU Disambiguation of Landforms: 52 48
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: marin, marine

Inflected forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "anémone de mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "araignée de mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "armée de mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "bouteille à la mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "bras de mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "cardon de mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "cigale de mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "cochon de mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "concombre de mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "eau de mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "écume de mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "éléphant de mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "étoile de mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "fruit de mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "haute mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "hérisson de mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "léopard de mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "lis de mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "loup de mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "loutre de mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mal de mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer Adriatique"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer Baltique"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer Blanche"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer Caspienne"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer de Barents"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer de Chine méridionale"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer de Chine orientale"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer de Marmara"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer de Myrto"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer des Caraïbes"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer du Japon"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer du Nord"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer d’Arabie"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer d’Aral"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer d’Azov"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer d’huile"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer d’Irlande"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer d’Iroise"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer Égée"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer Ionienne"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer Jaune"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer Méditerranée"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer Morte"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer Noire"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer Rouge"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "mer Tyrrhénienne"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "ne pas être la mer à boire"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "niveau de la mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "oreille de mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "panicaut de mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "perche de mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "prendre la mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "serpent de mer"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "vache de mer"
    }
  ],
  "descendants": [
    {
      "depth": 1,
      "templates": [
        {
          "args": {
            "1": "gcf",
            "2": "lanmè"
          },
          "expansion": "Antillean Creole: lanmè",
          "name": "desc"
        }
      ],
      "text": "Antillean Creole: lanmè"
    },
    {
      "depth": 1,
      "templates": [
        {
          "args": {
            "1": "ht",
            "2": "lanmè"
          },
          "expansion": "Haitian Creole: lanmè",
          "name": "desc"
        }
      ],
      "text": "Haitian Creole: lanmè"
    },
    {
      "depth": 1,
      "templates": [
        {
          "args": {
            "1": "vo",
            "2": "mel",
            "bor": "1"
          },
          "expansion": "→ Volapük: mel",
          "name": "desc"
        }
      ],
      "text": "→ Volapük: mel"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "Inherited"
      },
      "expansion": "Inherited",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "frm",
        "3": "mer",
        "4": "",
        "5": "",
        "g": "",
        "g2": "",
        "g3": "",
        "id": "",
        "lit": "",
        "nocat": "",
        "pos": "",
        "sc": "",
        "sort": "",
        "tr": "",
        "ts": ""
      },
      "expansion": "Middle French mer",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "frm",
        "3": "mer"
      },
      "expansion": "Inherited from Middle French mer",
      "name": "inh+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "mer"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French mer",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "mare"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin mare",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "itc-pro",
        "3": "*mari"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Italic *mari",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*móri"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *móri",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ro",
        "2": "mare",
        "g": "f"
      },
      "expansion": "Romanian mare f",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Inherited from Middle French mer, from Old French mer, from Latin mare, from Proto-Italic *mari, from Proto-Indo-European *móri.\nThe word is almost unparalleled as a Latin neuter that has become feminine without being a backformation from a plural in -a (French -e). This has been ascribed to the influence of terre (“land”). In most other Romance languages it is a masculine, the main exception being Romanian mare f.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "mers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "f"
      },
      "expansion": "mer f (plural mers)",
      "name": "fr-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "French",
  "lang_code": "fr",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "marin"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "marine"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "92 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "French entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "67 33",
          "kind": "place",
          "langcode": "fr",
          "name": "Bodies of water",
          "orig": "fr:Bodies of water",
          "parents": [
            "Landforms",
            "Water",
            "Earth",
            "Places",
            "Liquids",
            "Nature",
            "Names",
            "Matter",
            "All topics",
            "Proper nouns",
            "Terms by semantic function",
            "Chemistry",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nouns",
            "Sciences",
            "Lemmas"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "52 48",
          "kind": "place",
          "langcode": "fr",
          "name": "Landforms",
          "orig": "fr:Landforms",
          "parents": [
            "Earth",
            "Places",
            "Nature",
            "Names",
            "All topics",
            "Proper nouns",
            "Terms by semantic function",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nouns",
            "Lemmas"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "english": "I love, I love, I sometimes love the loneliness/solitude. But I don't love the crying [cries] when it [they] won't stop, when the emotions plunge me into the enraged sea, when the absence of myself makes me wander.",
          "ref": "2018, Zaz, J'aime, j'aime:",
          "text": "J’aime, j’aime, j’aime la solitude parfois. mais j’aime pas les cris quand ils ne s’arrêtent pas, quand les émotions me plongent en mer enragée, quand le manque de moi me fait divaguer.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "sea (large body of water)"
      ],
      "id": "en-mer-fr-noun-FEjpl~TK",
      "links": [
        [
          "sea",
          "sea"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(countable) sea (large body of water)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "feminine"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "52 48",
          "kind": "place",
          "langcode": "fr",
          "name": "Landforms",
          "orig": "fr:Landforms",
          "parents": [
            "Earth",
            "Places",
            "Nature",
            "Names",
            "All topics",
            "Proper nouns",
            "Terms by semantic function",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nouns",
            "Lemmas"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "the ocean (the continuous body of salt water covering a majority of the Earth's surface)"
      ],
      "id": "en-mer-fr-noun-AE7JiYuU",
      "links": [
        [
          "definite article",
          "definite article"
        ],
        [
          "ocean",
          "ocean"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(uncountable, used with the definite article) the ocean (the continuous body of salt water covering a majority of the Earth's surface)"
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "used with the definite article"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "océan"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "feminine",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/mɛʁ/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "Fr-mer.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/8a/Fr-mer.ogg/Fr-mer.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Fr-mer.ogg"
    },
    {
      "audio": "Qc-mer.oga",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/fe/Qc-mer.oga/Qc-mer.oga.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Qc-mer.oga"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɛʁ"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "maire"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "maires"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "mère"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "mères"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "mers"
    }
  ],
  "word": "mer"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "French 1-syllable words",
    "French countable nouns",
    "French entries with incorrect language header",
    "French feminine nouns",
    "French lemmas",
    "French nouns",
    "French terms derived from Latin",
    "French terms derived from Middle French",
    "French terms derived from Old French",
    "French terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
    "French terms derived from Proto-Italic",
    "French terms inherited from Latin",
    "French terms inherited from Middle French",
    "French terms inherited from Old French",
    "French terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European",
    "French terms inherited from Proto-Italic",
    "French terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "French terms with homophones",
    "Pages with 25 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:French/ɛʁ",
    "Rhymes:French/ɛʁ/1 syllable",
    "fr:Bodies of water",
    "fr:Landforms"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "anémone de mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "araignée de mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "armée de mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "bouteille à la mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "bras de mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "cardon de mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "cigale de mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "cochon de mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "concombre de mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "eau de mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "écume de mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "éléphant de mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "étoile de mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "fruit de mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "haute mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "hérisson de mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "léopard de mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "lis de mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "loup de mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "loutre de mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "mal de mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer Adriatique"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer Baltique"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer Blanche"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer Caspienne"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer de Barents"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer de Chine méridionale"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer de Chine orientale"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer de Marmara"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer de Myrto"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer des Caraïbes"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer du Japon"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer du Nord"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer d’Arabie"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer d’Aral"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer d’Azov"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer d’huile"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer d’Irlande"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer d’Iroise"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer Égée"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer Ionienne"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer Jaune"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer Méditerranée"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer Morte"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer Noire"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer Rouge"
    },
    {
      "word": "mer Tyrrhénienne"
    },
    {
      "word": "ne pas être la mer à boire"
    },
    {
      "word": "niveau de la mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "oreille de mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "panicaut de mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "perche de mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "prendre la mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "serpent de mer"
    },
    {
      "word": "vache de mer"
    }
  ],
  "descendants": [
    {
      "depth": 1,
      "templates": [
        {
          "args": {
            "1": "gcf",
            "2": "lanmè"
          },
          "expansion": "Antillean Creole: lanmè",
          "name": "desc"
        }
      ],
      "text": "Antillean Creole: lanmè"
    },
    {
      "depth": 1,
      "templates": [
        {
          "args": {
            "1": "ht",
            "2": "lanmè"
          },
          "expansion": "Haitian Creole: lanmè",
          "name": "desc"
        }
      ],
      "text": "Haitian Creole: lanmè"
    },
    {
      "depth": 1,
      "templates": [
        {
          "args": {
            "1": "vo",
            "2": "mel",
            "bor": "1"
          },
          "expansion": "→ Volapük: mel",
          "name": "desc"
        }
      ],
      "text": "→ Volapük: mel"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "Inherited"
      },
      "expansion": "Inherited",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "frm",
        "3": "mer",
        "4": "",
        "5": "",
        "g": "",
        "g2": "",
        "g3": "",
        "id": "",
        "lit": "",
        "nocat": "",
        "pos": "",
        "sc": "",
        "sort": "",
        "tr": "",
        "ts": ""
      },
      "expansion": "Middle French mer",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "frm",
        "3": "mer"
      },
      "expansion": "Inherited from Middle French mer",
      "name": "inh+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "mer"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French mer",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "mare"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin mare",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "itc-pro",
        "3": "*mari"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Italic *mari",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*móri"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *móri",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ro",
        "2": "mare",
        "g": "f"
      },
      "expansion": "Romanian mare f",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Inherited from Middle French mer, from Old French mer, from Latin mare, from Proto-Italic *mari, from Proto-Indo-European *móri.\nThe word is almost unparalleled as a Latin neuter that has become feminine without being a backformation from a plural in -a (French -e). This has been ascribed to the influence of terre (“land”). In most other Romance languages it is a masculine, the main exception being Romanian mare f.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "mers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "f"
      },
      "expansion": "mer f (plural mers)",
      "name": "fr-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "French",
  "lang_code": "fr",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "marin"
    },
    {
      "word": "marine"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "French countable nouns",
        "French terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "english": "I love, I love, I sometimes love the loneliness/solitude. But I don't love the crying [cries] when it [they] won't stop, when the emotions plunge me into the enraged sea, when the absence of myself makes me wander.",
          "ref": "2018, Zaz, J'aime, j'aime:",
          "text": "J’aime, j’aime, j’aime la solitude parfois. mais j’aime pas les cris quand ils ne s’arrêtent pas, quand les émotions me plongent en mer enragée, quand le manque de moi me fait divaguer.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "sea (large body of water)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "sea",
          "sea"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(countable) sea (large body of water)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "feminine"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "French uncountable nouns"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "the ocean (the continuous body of salt water covering a majority of the Earth's surface)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "definite article",
          "definite article"
        ],
        [
          "ocean",
          "ocean"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(uncountable, used with the definite article) the ocean (the continuous body of salt water covering a majority of the Earth's surface)"
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "used with the definite article"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "océan"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "feminine",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/mɛʁ/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "Fr-mer.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/8a/Fr-mer.ogg/Fr-mer.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Fr-mer.ogg"
    },
    {
      "audio": "Qc-mer.oga",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/f/fe/Qc-mer.oga/Qc-mer.oga.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Qc-mer.oga"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɛʁ"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "maire"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "maires"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "mère"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "mères"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "mers"
    }
  ],
  "word": "mer"
}

Download raw JSONL data for mer meaning in French (6.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable French dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-31 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-20 using wiktextract (bcd5c38 and 9dbd323). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.