Added 1 October 2026
siren
/ˈsaɪəɹən/ noun
In Latin: Sīrēn First recorded: 1671 Wiktionary
noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about siren at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
-
A sea nymph (part woman and part bird) supposed to lure sailors to destruction on the rocks where the nymphs lived.
Odysseus ordered his crew to plug their ears so they would not hear the Siren's fatal song
- A woman who is considered to be dangerously seductive.
- A warning signal that is a loud wailing sound.
Origin
From Middle English siren, from Old French sereine and Latin Sīrēn, Sīrēna, from Ancient Greek Σειρήν (Seirḗn). The mammalian sense was first attested in French in Dominique Bouhours, Les entretiens d'Ariste et d'Eugène, in 1671. The aquatic salamander sense was originally introduced by Linnaeus in 1766, for a genus of his reptiles.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)