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''Mercator'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''Mercator'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260130112253-00-⌔

Mercator - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

Mercator (plural Mercators)

  • Synonym of Mercator projection.
    • ✤ we have determined to go by way of Lisbon […], if so be that Capt. Kidd our gallant or rather gallows commander understands plain sailing and Mercator, and takes us on our voyage all according to the Chart.1
    • ✤ The Mercator has been a favorite schoolroom map because it shows almost the whole world simply—in a single continuous panel. It does not seem to distort shapes.2
    • ✤ In the Mercator projection, the line of intersection between the cylinder and the sphere is the equator, while in the Traverse Mercator this line is a meridian.3
    • ✤ Most digital maps are displayed in the Web Mercator projection but this is slowly changing. Web Mercator became the default standard for web mapping when the major online map services adopted it, like Google and OpenStreetMap.4
    • ✤ […] saying the Mercator fostered a false impression that Africa was “marginal”, despite being the world’s second-largest continent by area, with more than 1 billion people.5

Etymology

From Gerardus Mercator, Latinized name of Gerard de Cremer (1512–1594), Flemish cartographer and mathematician, from Latin mercātor (“merchant”).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA: /məˈkeɪ.tə/, /mɜːˈkeɪ.tə/
  • (US) IPA: /mɜɹˈkeɪ.tɜɹ/

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1809, Lord Byron, letter (to Henry Drury), 25 Jun 1809: ↩

  2. 1964, David Greenhood, Mapping, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 128: ↩

  3. 2018, Julio Sanchez, Maria P. Canton, Space Image Processing, Routledge, →ISBN, page 191: ↩

  4. 2020, Gretchen N. Peterson, *GIS Cartography […] *, 3rd edition, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 144: ↩

  5. 2025 August 15, Selma Malika Haddadi, quotee, “African Union joins calls to end use of Mercator map that shrinks continent’s size”, in The Guardian ‎, sourced from Reuters, →ISSN: ↩

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