polecat

English

A marbled polecat (weasel-like animal).

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle French pole (“hen”) +‎ cat. So named because of its fondness for poultry.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpɑlkæt/
• IPA: /ˈpəʊlkæt/

Noun

polecat (plural polecats)

1. A weasel-like animal of the genus Mustela, notably the European polecat, Mustela putorius.
2. (US, dialect) A skunk.

Quotations

• 1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 61

  By the little garden pergola open to the winds some fluttered peacocks were blotted nervelessly amid the dripping trees, their heads sunk back beneath their wings: while in the pergoda itself, like a fallen storm-cloud, lolled a negress, her levelled, polecat eyes semi-veiled by the nebulous alchemy of the rainbow.

Derived terms

• marbled polecat
• steppe polecat
• striped polecat
• European polecat

Translations

Mustela putorius

• Albanian: qelbësi (sq)
• Armenian: ժանտաքիս (hy) (žantak'is)
• Basque: ipurtats (eu)
• Belarusian: тхор лясны (be) (txor ljasný) m, тхор чорны (be) (txor čórny) m, тхор (be) (txor) m
• Breton: pudask (br)
• Bulgarian: прът (bg) (prăt) f
• Catalan: turó (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 艾虎 (cmn) (àihǔ)

• Czech: tchoř (cs) m
• Danish: ilder (da)
• Dutch: bunzing (nl) m
• Esperanto: putoro (eo)
• Estonian: tuhkur (et)
• Finnish: hilleri (fi)
• French: putois (fr) m
• Friulian: puçul, pufe, pudîs, spuç
• Galician: tourón (gl)
• German: Iltis (de) m
• Greek: οζοϊκτίς (el) (ozoïktís), βρωμοκούναβο (el) (vromokoùnavo)
• Hungarian: görény (hu)
• Irish: cat coille (ga) m, toghán (ga) m
• Italian: puzzola (it) f
• Japanese: ケナガイタチ (ja) (kenagaitachi), ヨーロッパケナガイタチ (ja) (Yōroppa kenagaitachi)
• Jèrriais: putouais m
• Latgalian: saskys m
• Latin: mustella (la)
• Latvian: sesks (lv)

• Lithuanian: šeškas (lt)
• Lower Sorbian: twoŕ
• Macedonian: обичен твор (mk) (običen tvor)
• Navajo: tó wónaanídę́ę́ʼ dlǫ́ʼii
• Norwegian: ilder (no)
• Occitan: catpudre (oc)
• Polish: tchórz (pl)
• Portuguese: toirão (pt)
• Romani: mutsa-kandini f
• Romanian: dihor (ro)
• Romansch: telpi (rm)
• Russian: хорёк (ru) (xorjók) m, хорь (ru) (xorʹ) m, хорь чёрный (ru) (xorʹ čórnyj) m, хорь лесной (ru) (xorʹ lesnój) m
• Sami: čáhppesbuoidda
• Sardinian: pùtzola (sc)
• Scottish Gaelic: feòcallan (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: твор (sh) m

  Latin tvor (sh) m

• Slovak: tchor obyčajný (sk)
• Slovene: dihur (sl) m
• Spanish: turón (es) m
• Swedish: iller (sv)
• Turkish: kokarca (tr)
• Ukrainian: тхiр лiсовий (uk) (txir lisovýj) m, тхiр чорний (uk) (txir čórnyj) m
• Upper Sorbian: tchór (hsb)
• Walloon: vexhåd (wa)
• Welsh: ffwlbart (cy)
• West Frisian: murd (fy)

skunk — see skunk

Synonyms

• fitch
• foumart
• skunk (US, regional)

Anagrams

• colpate