Mercury

See also: mercury

English

The planet Mercury

Mercury's planetary symbol ⟨☿⟩

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English Mercurie, from Latin Mercurius.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɜː(ɹ)kjʊɹi/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɝkjəɹi/, /ˈmɝk(ə)ɹi/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Proper noun

Mercury

2. (astronomy) The first planet in the Solar system with the closest orbit to the Sun, named after the god; represented by ☿.
   • 1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros‎^[1], London: Jonathan Cape, page 1:

     Thou, first of the children of men, art come to Mercury, where thou and I will journey up and down for a season to show thee the lands and oceans, the forests, plains, and ancient mountains, cities and palaces of this world, Mercury, and the doings of them that dwell therein.

4. (Roman mythology) The Roman god associated with speed, sometimes used as a messenger, wearing winged sandals; the Roman counterpart of the Greek god Hermes.

Synonyms

• (astronomy, astrology): ☿

Derived terms

• Mercury Seven

Translations

planet

• Abkhaz: Меркурий (Merkʼurij)
• Afrikaans: Mercurius (af)
• Albanian: Mërkur m
• Amharic: ኣጣርድ (ʾaṭard), ሜርኩሪ (mērikurī)
• Arabic: عُطَارِد m (ʕuṭārid)

  Hijazi Arabic: عُطارِد m (ʕuṭārid)

• Aragonese: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: Մերկուրի (Merkuri), Փայլածու (Pʻaylacu)
• Assamese: বুধ (budh)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܢܵܒ݂ܘܿ m (nawo)
• Asturian: Mercuriu m
• Azerbaijani: Merkuri (az), Ütarid

  Cyrillic: Үтарид

• Bashkir: Меркурий (Merkuriy)
• Basque: Merkurio (eu)
• Belarusian: Мерку́рый m (Mjerkúryj), Мэрку́рый m (Merkúryj) (Taraškievica)
• Bengali: বুধ (bn) (budh)
• Breton: Merc'her (br)
• Bulgarian: Мерку́рий m (Merkúrij)
• Burmese: ဗုဒ္ဓဟူး (my) (buddha.hu:)
• Buryat: Һагба (Hagba), Лхагба (Lxagba)
• Catalan: Mercuri (ca) m
• Chechen: Меркурий (Merkurii)
• Cherokee: ᎹᏓᎵ (madali)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 水星 (seoi² sing¹)

  Hokkien: 水星 (zh-min-nan) (chúi-chheⁿ, chúi-chhiⁿ)

  Mandarin: 水星 (zh) (Shuǐxīng), 辰星 (zh) (Chénxīng) (historical)

• Chuvash: Меркурий (Merk̬urij)
• Coptic: ⲥⲟⲩⲕⲏ (soukē), ⲉⲣⲙⲏⲥ (ermēs)
• Cornish: Merher m
• Crimean Tatar: Utarit
• Czech: Merkur (cs)
• Danish: Merkur (da) c
• Dutch: Mercurius (nl) m
• Dzongkha: མར་ཀུ་རི (mar ku ri)
• Esperanto: Merkuro (eo)
• Estonian: Merkuur (et)
• Fijian: Mekuri
• Finnish: Merkurius (fi)
• French: Mercure (fr) m or f
• Galician: Mercurio (gl) m
• Georgian: მერკური (merḳuri)
• German: Merkur (de) m
• Greek: Ερμής (el) m (Ermís)
• Guaraní: Mekúrio
• Gujarati: બુધ (budh)
• Haitian Creole: Mèki
• Hawaiian: Ukalialiʻi
• Hebrew: חַמָּה (he) f (khamá)
• Hindi: बुध (hi) m (budh), तीर (hi) m (tīr)
• Hungarian: Merkúr (hu)
• Icelandic: Merkúr (is) m, Merkúríus (is) m
• Ido: Merkuro (io)
• Indonesian: Merkurius, Utarid
• Interlingua: Mercurio m
• Irish: Mearcair m
• Italian: Mercurio (it) m
• Jamaican Creole: Moerkiuri
• Japanese: 水星 (ja) (すいせい, Suisei), マーキュリー (ja) (Mākyurī)
• Javanese: Merkurius, Buda
• Kannada: ಬುಧ (kn) (budha)
• Kazakh: Меркурий (Merkurii), Болпан (Bolpan), Кіші Шолпан (Kışı Şolpan), Таңшолпан (Tañşolpan)
• Khmer: ផ្កាយពុធ (phkaay put), ពុធ (km) (put)
• Korean: 수성(水星) (ko) (Suseong), 진성(辰星) (Jinseong)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: زاوە (ckb) (zawe)

  Northern Kurdish: Tîr (ku), Zawe (ku)

• Kyrgyz: Меркурий (Merkuriy)
• Lao: ພຸດ (phut), ດາວພຸດ (lo) (dāo phut)
• Latin: Mercurius (la) m
• Latvian: Merkurs m
• Lingala: Mekulé
• Lithuanian: Merkurijus (lt) m, Vaivora f
• Lü: ᦡᦱᧁᦓᧄᧉ (ḋaawnam²)
• Macedonian: Меркур m (Merkur)
• Malagasy: Merkiora
• Malay: Utarid (ms)
• Malayalam: ബുധൻ (ml) (budhaṉ)
• Maltese: Merkurju m
• Manchu: ᠮᡠᡴᡝ
  ᡠᠰᡳ᠍ᡥᠠ (muke usiha)
• Maori: Apārangi, Takero
• Marathi: बुध m (budh)
• Middle Persian: tyl
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: Буд (Bud)

  Mongolian: ᠪᠤᠳ (bud)

• Navajo: Mókiwii
• Nepali: बुधग्रह (budhagraha), बुध (budh)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Merkur (no)

  Nynorsk: Merkur (nn)

• Odia: ବୁଧ (or) (budha)
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: Єрмисъ m (Ermisŭ)

• Old Tupi: pirapanema
• Ossetian: Меркурий (Merkurij)
• Pashto: عطارد (ps) m (atāród)
• Persian: تیر (fa) (tir), عطارد (fa) ('otâred), زاووش (fa) (zâvuš)
• Polish: Merkury (pl) m
• Portuguese: Mercúrio (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਬੁੱਧ (buddha)
• Quechua: Qatuylla
• Romagnol: please add this translation if you can
• Romanian: Mercur (ro) m
• Russian: Мерку́рий (ru) m (Merkúrij)
• Sanskrit: बुध (sa) m (budha)
• Santali: ᱮᱞᱟᱝ ᱮᱸᱜᱮᱞ (elaṅ ẽgel)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Мѐркӯр m

  Roman: Mèrkūr (sh) m

• Shona: Nyamatsatse
• Sinhalese: බුධ (si) (budha)
• Slovak: Merkúr m
• Slovene: Merkúr (sl) m
• Somali: Dusaa
• Sotho: Mekhuri
• Spanish: Mercurio (es) m
• Swahili: Utaridi (sw), Zebaki (sw)
• Swedish: Merkurius (sv) c
• Tagalog: Merkuryo
• Tajik: Уторид (tg) (Utorid), Тир (Tir)
• Tamil: புதன் (ta) (putaṉ)
• Tatar: Меркурий (Merkuriy)
• Telugu: బుధుడు (te) (budhuḍu)
• Thai: ดาวพุธ (daao pút), พุธ (th) (pút)
• Tibetan: གཟའ་ལྷག་པ (gza' lhag pa), ལྷག་པ (lhag pa)
• Tok Pisin: Mekyuri
• Tongan: Meākuli
• Tswana: Mekhuri
• Tumbuka: Luskaka, Chanya la Luskaka
• Turkish: Merkür (tr), Utarit (tr) (archaic)
• Turkmen: Merkuriý
• Ukrainian: Мерку́рій m (Merkúrij)
• Urdu: عطارد m (utārid), تیر m (tīr)
• Uyghur: مېركۇرى (mërkuri), ئارزۇ (arzu), ئاتارۇت (atarut)
• Uzbek: Merkuriy, Atorud

  Cyrillic: Меркурий (Merkuriy), Аторуд (Atorud)

• Venetan: Mercùrio m
• Vietnamese: Sao Thủy (𣋀水)
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: Mercher (cy) m
• West Frisian: Merkurius
• Wolof: Merkuur
• Yiddish: מערקור m (merkur)
• Yoruba: Mẹ́rkúríù
• Zhuang: Ndaundeiqraemx
• Zulu: uMerkuriyu, uNomjubane

Roman god

• Arabic: مِيرْكُورِي m (mīrkūrī)
• Armenian: Մերկուրի (Merkuri)
• Asturian: Mercuriu m
• Azerbaijani: Merkuri (az)
• Belarusian: Мерку́рый m (Mjerkúryj), Мэрку́рый m (Merkúryj) (Taraškievica)
• Bengali: মারকিউরি (markiuri)
• Breton: Merc'her (br)
• Bulgarian: Мерку́рий m (Merkúrij)
• Catalan: Mercuri (ca) m
• Cherokee: ᎹᏓᎵ (madali)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 墨丘利 (mak⁶ jau¹ lei⁶)

  Mandarin: 墨丘利 (zh) (Mòqiūlì)

• Cornish: Merher m
• Czech: Merkur (cs) m
• Dutch: Mercurius (nl) m
• Esperanto: Merkuro (eo) m
• Estonian: Mercurius
• Finnish: Merkurius (fi)
• French: Mercure (fr) m
• Galician: Mercurio (gl) m
• Georgian: მერკური (merḳuri)
• German: Merkur (de) m
• Greek: Ερμής (el) m (Ermís), Μερκούριους m (Merkoúrious)

  Ancient: Ἑρμῆς m (Hermês)

• Hebrew: מֶרְקוּרְיוּס m (merkúrius)
• Hindi: मरक्युरी m (marakyurī)
• Hungarian: Merkúr (hu)
• Icelandic: Merkúríus (is) m
• Interlingua: Mercurio m
• Irish: Mearcair m
• Italian: Mercurio (it) m
• Japanese: メルクリウス (ja) (Merukuriusu), マーキュリー (ja) (Mākyurī)
• Kazakh: Меркурий (Merkurii)
• Khmer: ពុធ (km) (put)
• Korean: 메르쿠리우스 (ko) (Mereukuriuseu)
• Kyrgyz: Меркурий (Merkuriy)
• Latin: Mercurius (la) m
• Latvian: Merkurs m, Merkūrijs m
• Lithuanian: Merkurijus (lt) m
• Macedonian: Меркур m (Merkur)
• Malay: Mercurius
• Maltese: Merkurju m
• Marathi: मरक्युरी m (marakyurī)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Merkur (no)

  Nynorsk: Merkur (nn)

• Persian: مرکوری (merkuri)
• Polish: Merkury (pl) m
• Portuguese: Mercúrio (pt) m
• Romanian: Mercur (ro) m
• Russian: Мерку́рий (ru) m (Merkúrij)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Мѐркӯр m

  Roman: Mèrkūr (sh) m

• Slovak: Merkúr m
• Slovene: Merkúr (sl) m
• Spanish: Mercurio (es) m
• Swahili: Merkyuri
• Swedish: Merkurius (sv)
• Tajik: Меркурий (tg) (Myerkuriy)
• Tatar: Меркурий (Merkuriy)
• Thai: เมอร์คิวรี
• Turkish: Merkür (tr)
• Turkmen: Merkuriý
• Ukrainian: Мерку́рій m (Merkúrij)
• Uyghur: مېركۇرى (mërkuri)
• Uzbek: Merkuriy
• Vietnamese: Méc-cua, Mẹt-cu-rơ
• Welsh: Mercher (cy) m
• Zulu: uMerkuriyu

See also

• planets of the Solar System: Mercury · Venus · Earth · Mars · Jupiter · Saturn · Uranus · Neptune ^[edit]

Solar System in English · Solar System (layout · text)
Star	Sun
IAU planets and notable dwarf planets	Mercury	Venus	Earth	Mars	Ceres	Jupiter	Saturn	Uranus	Neptune	Pluto	Eris
Notable moons	—	—	Moon	Phobos Deimos	—	Io Europa Ganymede Callisto	Mimas Enceladus Tethys Dione Rhea Titan Iapetus	Miranda Ariel Umbriel Titania Oberon	Triton	Charon	Dysnomia

Noun

Mercury (plural Mercuries)

1. (obsolete, alchemy, chemistry) Quicksilver, mercury. (No longer capitalized, as the name of the metal is no longer recognized as that of the planet.)
2. (archaic) A carrier of tidings.
   1. A newsboy, a messenger. [16th–19th c.]
   2. A footman.
      • 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:

        Enter Mr. Tulkinghorn, followed by Mercuries with lamps and candles.

   3. Someone who carries messages between lovers; a go-between. [from 17th c.]
      • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:

        His Mercury having made his observations, reported, that there was no body in the coach but Mrs. Hornbeck and an elderly woman, who had all the air of a duenna, and that the servant was not the same footman who had attended them in France.

   4. A newspaper. [from 17th c.]
      • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XXI, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

        No allusion to it is to be found in the monthly Mercuries.

Further reading

• Mercury (planet) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Mercury (mythology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “Mercury”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Middle English

Proper noun

Mercury

1. Alternative form of Mercurie