From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmermaidmer‧maid /ˈmɜːmeɪd $ ˈmɜːr-/ noun [countable] RFin stories, a woman who has a fish’s tail instead of legs and who lives in the sea
Examples from the Corpus
mermaid• There was a mermaid there, too.• A mermaid with dark, tangled hair.• The lobby is graced with a fountain bearing a crystal mermaid.• At Starbucks' corporate headquarters, the signature mermaid placard toppled into the parking lot below.• It's a spell, you see, the mermaid has the power to cast spells.• Should you glimpse topless mermaids ... just look the other way.• Two flannels, draped across this, were mermaids, who swam and flopped and basked on islands of flesh.Origin mermaid (1300-1400) → MERE2 + maid 