Miriam
//ˈmɪɹɪəm// name
name ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Proper Noun
- 1 The sister of Moses and Aaron and the daughter of Amram and Jochebed.
"And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances."
- 2 Alternative spelling of Meriam. alt-of, alternative
- 3 Synonym of Mary, mother of Jesus, chiefly in contexts emphasizing her historical or Jewish identity.
- 4 A female given name from Hebrew.
Example
More examples"They were sisters, the four teachers I had in primary school, in the years 1940 (Iracema), 1941 (Helena), 1942 (Corália) and 1943 (Miriam)."
Etymology
From Hebrew מִרְיָם (Miryam), possibly from Aramaic מרים (Maryām, “bitter”), from a root מר (m-r) meaning "to be bitter". The meaning of this name which is the Old Testament equivalent of Mary has been debated for centuries. Some other explanations are mutiny / rebellion / disobedience from a root מרי (m-r-y).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.