ermine

English

Mustela erminea

Etymology

From Middle English ermine, ermin, ermyn, from Old French ermin, ermine, hermine, from Old Dutch *harmino ‘stoat skin’, from *harmo ‘stoat, weasel’ (compare Dutch dialectal herm), from Proto-Germanic *harmōn (compare Old English hearma, Old High German harmo (adj. harmin, obsolete German Harm), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱormon (compare Romansch carmun, obsolete Lithuanian šarmuõ).

Note: The supposed derivation from Medieval Latin mūs Armenius (“Armenian mouse”) is without any foundation.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɜːmɪn/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(r)mɪn

Noun

Wikipedia ermine (plural ermines)

1. A weasel, Mustela erminea, found in northern latitudes; its dark brown fur turns white in winter (apart from the black tip of the tail)
2. The white fur of this animal
3. (poetic) A symbol of purity
4. (figuratively) The office of a judge
5. (heraldry) A white field with black spots

Synonyms

• stoat (British)
• short-tailed weasel
• wild otter

Translations

Mustela erminea

• Albanian: ermelina (sq)
• Arabic: قاقم (ar) (qāqim) m
• Armenian: կնգում (hy) (kngum), սպիտակ աքիս (hy) (spitak ak’is)

  Old Armenian: ախազ (axaz)

• Basque: erbinude zuri
• Belarusian: гарнастай (be) (harnastáj) m
• Breton: erminig
• Bulgarian: хермелин (bg) (hermelin) m
• Catalan: ermini
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 白鼬 (cmn) (báiyòu)

• Czech: hranostaj (cs) m
• Danish: hermelin (da) c, lækat (da) c
• Dutch: hermelijn (nl) m
• Esperanto: ermeno
• Estonian: kärp (et), lahits (et), hermeliin (et)
• Faroese: roysikøttur (fo)
• Finnish: kärppä (fi)
• French: hermine (fr) f
• Friulian: armelin
• Galician: armiño
• German: Hermelin (de) n
• Greek: ερμίνα (el) (ermína) f
• Hungarian: hermelin (hu)
• Icelandic: hreysiköttur (is)
• Irish: easóg
• Italian: ermellino (it) m
• Japanese: オコジョ (ja) (okojo)
• Jèrriais: b'lette f
• Ladin: armelin
• Latin: Mustela erminea f
• Latvian: sermulis (lv) m

• Lithuanian: šermuonėlis (lt)
• Lower Sorbian: hermelin
• Macedonian: хермелин (mk) (hermelín) m, ермелин (mk) (ermelín) m
• Maltese: ermellin
• Navajo: dlǫ́ʼiiłgaii
• Norwegian: røyskatt (no)
• Occitan: ermina (oc) f
• Polish: gronostaj (pl) m
• Portuguese: arminho (pt) m
• Romani: ermina f
• Romanian: hermelina (ro) f
• Romansch: ermelin
• Russian: горностай (ru) (gornostáj) m
• Sami: buoidda
• Sardinian: ermellinu
• Scottish Gaelic: neas (gd) f, neas mhòr (gd) f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: хермелин (sh) m, зердав (sh) m

  Roman: hermelin (sh) m, zerdav (sh) m

• Slovak: hranostaj (sk) m
• Slovene: hermelin (sl) m
• Spanish: armiño (es) m
• Swedish: hermelin (sv) c, lekatt (sv) c
• Turkish: as (tr), kakım (tr), ermin (tr)
• Ukrainian: горностай (uk) (hornostáj) m
• Upper Sorbian: hermelin, hronostaj
• Volapük: (♂♀) härmin (vo), (♂) hihärmin (vo), (♀) jihärmin (vo), (♂♀ offspring, young) härminül (vo), (♂ offspring) hihärminül (vo), (♀ offspring) jihärminül (vo)
• Welsh: carlwm
• West Frisian: harmeling

the white fur of this animal

• Bulgarian: хермелин (bg) (hermelin) m
• Czech: hranostaj (cs) m
• Finnish: kärpännahka, hermeliini
• French: hermine (fr) f

• German: Hermelin (de) m
• Russian: горностай (ru) (gornostáj) m
• Volapük: (untanned) härminaskin (vo), härminapläd (vo), visafot (vo)

a symbol of purity

the office of a judge

(heraldry) a white field with black spots

• Finnish: kärpännahka (fi)
• French: hermine (fr) f

• German: Hermelin (de) n
• Macedonian: хермелин (mk) (hermelín) m

Verb

ermine (third-person singular simple present ermines, present participle ermining, simple past and past participle ermined)

1. To clothe with ermine

References

• OED 2nd edition 1989

Anagrams

• emerin

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Old French

Noun

ermine f (oblique plural ermines, nominative singular ermine, nominative plural ermines)

1. ermine (fabric)

   circa 1170, Chrétien de Troyes, Érec et Énide:

   La pane fu de blanc ermine