merlin

1. 1.

   (Arthurian legend) the magician who acted as King Arthur's advisor

   Broaderfictional character

   Arthurian legend

2. 2.

   small falcon of Europe and America having dark plumage with black-barred tail; used in falconry

   Synonymspigeon hawkFalco columbarius

   Broaderfalcon

   Part ofFalco

Other forms of merlin

plural

merlins·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about merlin

What does merlin mean?

merlin means "(Arthurian legend) the magician who acted as King Arthur's advisor". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in merlin?

merlin has 2 syllables: mer-lin. The stress falls on "mer". In IPA it is /ˈmɝlɪn/.

What is another word for merlin?

Close synonyms include pigeon hawk, Falco columbarius. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is merlin a common word?

merlin is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.