Gulls, or colloquially
seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to terns and skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed in the genus
Larus, but that arrangement is now considered polyphyletic, leading to the resurrection of several genera. An older name for gulls is
mews; this still exists in certain regional English dialects and is cognate with German
Möwe, Danish
måge, Swedish
mås, Dutch
meeuw, Norwegian
måke/måse, and French
mouette.