merlette

== English == === Etymology === From Late Middle English [Term?], from Anglo-Norman merlet (from merle (“blackbird”) + -et (“suffix forming a noun”)), or from Middle French merlette (“little blackbird; merlette (heraldic charge)”) (from merle (“blackbird”)—formerly a feminine noun) + -ette (“diminutive suffix for a feminine noun”). Merle is from Latin merula (“blackbird”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ems- (“black; blackbird”). === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /məːˈlɛt/ (General American) IPA(key): /mɚˈlɛt/ Hyphenation: mer‧lette === Noun === merlette (plural merlettes) (heraldry) In French heraldry, a depiction of a mythological bird without beak or feet. ==== See also ==== martlet (“depiction of a bird in English heraldry with stylized feet”) === References === === Further reading === list of heraldic charges on Wikipedia.Wikipedia == French == === Etymology === From merle +‎ -ette, literally “little blackbird”, the word for the male blackbird being mostly female until the 16th century (a male: "une merle", a little male: "une merlette"). Meaning 2 (hen blackbird) appears in 1839. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /mɛʁ.lɛt/ === Noun === merlette f (plural merlettes) (heraldry) the merlette female blackbird Synonym: merlesse ==== Descendants ==== → Catalan: merleta === Further reading === Trévoux (1771), Dictionnaire universel françois et latin‎[3] Adolphe Hatzfeld, Arsène Darmesteter, Antoine Thomas (1890), Dictionnaire général de la langue française du commencement du XVIIe siècle à nos jours‎[4]