merle
noun1
A type of mottled coloration on dogs.
2
A dog having this coloration.
- Derived terms
- merled
merle
nounUK /mɜːl/ · US /mɝl/
Etymology From Middle English merle, from Old French merle (French merle), from Latin merula (“blackbird”) (whence the directly borrowed Middle English merule, and compare the taxonomic name Turdus merula), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂mes- (“black, blackbird”). Compare Breton moualch (“ouzel”), Welsh mwyalch (“blackbird, thrush”). Distantly related to the synonymous ouzel.
1
A Eurasian blackbird, Turdus merula.
2
Any blackbird.