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marlin

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Etymology and origin of the English word marlin

Pronunciation

  • /ˈmɑɹ.lɪn/[1]

marlin1 godwit

Confidence
Uncertain
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1831 R. Jameson's revision of Wilson and Bonaparte's American Ornithology
Ultimate origin
Old French marbre
Etymology tree of marlin1
inherited borrowed derived
English marble
English marlin

Etymology

The word for the shorebird is probably from English from marl, a contracted form of marble, compare the earlier name marbled godwit, with its ending taken from marlinspike because of the shape of the bird's bill.[2] The Shorter Oxford and Merriam-Webster Unabridged call it of unknown origin.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Either of two godwits of the Americas, the Hudsonian godwit and especially the marbled godwit: 1831, in R. Jameson's revision of Wilson and Bonaparte's American Ornithology.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

From 1886 the name was also given to the North American whimbrel.[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged labels the word chiefly Midland,[4] and the Shorter Oxford marks it as American.[3]

Timeline

  • 1831 – a godwit, especially the marbled godwit.[2][4]
  • 1886 – the North American whimbrel.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (chiefly US) A godwit, especially the marbled godwit of North America.[2][4][3]
  2. The North American whimbrel.[2]

marlin2 game fish

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Clipping
First attested
1917 Vanity Fair (New York)
Ultimate origin
English marlinspike

Etymology

The word for the fish is probably a shortening from English of marlinspike,[2][5][6][4][7] the pointed iron tool sailors use to separate the strands of a rope, from the shape of the fish's long pointed upper jaw.[2][5][6][8] Etymonline traces it through the fuller name “marlinspike fish”, recorded from 1907,[5] and Barnhart calls it American English.[6] Marlinspike, from the 1620s, is formed from marling and spike,[2][5] its first element later taken as marline, a small cord,[3] which Etymonline derives from Middle Dutch marlijn (“small cord”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Any of several very large sea fishes of the family Istiophoridae, valued for food and sport, with the upper jaw drawn out into a point: 1917, in the New York Vanity Fair.[2][5][4]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed close to the first one, the large game fish of warm seas, now named in kinds such as the blue, black, striped and white marlin.[4][8] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also records the word for a stunt in synchronized swimming in which the body turns a quarter circle.[4]

Timeline

  • 1907 – the fuller name “marlinspike fish”.[5]
  • 1917 – a large billfish of the genera Makaira and Tetrapturus.[2][5][6][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Any of several large, powerful billfishes of warm seas, with a long pointed upper jaw, prized as food and game fishes: She landed a blue marlin off the coast.[4][8][2]
  2. A figure in synchronized swimming in which the body makes a quarter turn.[4]

Word family

  • white marlin
  • blue marlin
  • striped marlin
  • marlinspike
  • marline

Usage notes

In Scotland, Shropshire and Cornwall marlin was a dialect name for the merlin, and in Shetland for the sparrowhawk.[9] Dictionary.com also lists it as a spelling of marline, the two-stranded cord, from late Middle English merlin.[10][5]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
Cite this entry

“Marlin.” Etymologically, 8 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/marlin. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

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