weasel

English

Wikipedia ^en

A weasel Mustela frenata (2)

Etymology

Middle English wesele, from Old English weosule, from Proto-Germanic *wisulōn (compare West Frisian wezeling, Dutch wezel, German Wiesel), from Proto-Indo-European *wiselos (compare Irish fíal 'ferret'), from *wis- 'musk, stink' (compare Latin virus 'slimy liquid, mud; stench', Sanskrit विस्र (visra) 'musty, smelling of raw meat)'.

The verb comes from the supposed cunningness of the weasel.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈwiːzəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːzəl

Noun

Wikipedia weasel (plural weasels)

1. The least weasel, Mustela nivalis.
2. Any of the carnivorous mammals of the genus Mustela, having a slender body, a long tail and usually a light brown upper coat and light-coloured belly.
3. The taxonomic family Mustelidae is also called the weasel family.
4. A devious or sneaky person or animal.
5. A type of yarn winder used for counting the yardage of handspun yarn. It most commonly has a wooden peg or dowel that pops up from the gearing mechanism after a certain number of yards have been wound onto the winder.

Derived terms

• weaselly, weasely
• weasel word

Translations

least weasel, Mustela nivalis

Armenian: աքիս (hy) (ak'is) Basque: erbinude (eu) Bosnian: lasica (bs) f. Breton: kaerell (br) Chinese: 黄鼠狼 (cmn) (huángshǔláng) Croatian: lasica (hr) f. Czech: lasice (cs) f. Danish: brud (da) c. Dutch: wezel (nl) f. and m. Esperanto: (male or female) vizelo (eo), (male) virvizelo (eo), (female) vizelino (eo) Estonian: nirk (et) Finnish: lumikko (fi) French: belette (fr) f., belette d'Europe (fr) f., belette pygmée (fr) f., petite belette (fr) f. German: Wiesel (de) n., Mauswiesel (de) n., Zwergwiesel (de) n., Kleinwiesel (de) n., (popularly) Hermännchen (de) n. Greek: νυφίτσα (el) (nifítsa) f. Hebrew: סמור (he) (samur) Hungarian: menyét (hu) Irish: bláthnaid ghallda (ga) f.

Italian: donnola (it) f. Japanese: 飯綱 (ja) (いいずな) (īzuna) Korean: 족제비 (ko) (jokjebi) Latgalian: luoseica Latvian: zebiekste (lv) f. Lithuanian: žebenkštis  (lt) m. Luxembourgish: Wisel (lb) n. Macedonian: ласица (mk) (lásica) f. Navajo: dlǫ́ʼii Polish: łasica (pl) f. Portuguese: doninha (pt) Russian: ласка (ru) (láska) f. Scottish Gaelic: neas (gd) f., neas bheag (gd) f. Slovene: podlasica (sl) f. Spanish: comadreja (es) f., mustela (es) f., turón (es) m. Turkish: gelincik (tr) Volapük: (male or female) visaf (vo) West Frisian: wezeling (fy) c.

any mammal of the genus Mustela

Esperanto: (male or female) mustelo (eo), (male) virmustelo (eo), (female) mustelino (eo) Finnish: kärppä (fi) German: Wiesel (de) n. Navajo: dlǫ́ʼii

Scottish Gaelic: neas (gd) f. Volapük: (male or female) visaf (vo) West Frisian: marter (fy) c.

any mammal of the family Mustelidae

Esperanto: (male or female) musteledo (vo), (male) virmusteledo (vo), (female) musteledino (vo) Finnish: näätäeläin (fi)

Indonesian: luwak Irish: easóg f., an cailín uasasl m., an bheainín uasal f.

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Albanian: nuse e lalës Basque: erbinude Belarusian: ласка Bulgarian: невестулка (nevestulka) Catalan: mostela f. Friulian: bilite Galician: donicela, denociña Icelandic: hreysiköttur, vesla Italian: donnola f. Ladin: belora Latin: mustela Lithuanian: žebenkštis Lower Sorbian: łasyca, łasycka Maltese: ballottra Norwegian: snømus, vesel Occitan: mostèla, polida

Portuguese: doninha Romanian: nevăstuică f. Romani: boriori f. Sardinian: bucca de mele, bucchemeli Serbo-Croatian: ласица (lasica) Slovak: lasica Slovene: podlasica f. Spanish: comadreja f., mostela f. Swedish: vessla Turkish: gelincik Ukrainian: ласиця (lasicja) Upper Sorbian: kohlica Welsh: bronwen, gwenci Vilamovian: gyfaotela

Verb

weasel (third-person singular simple present weasels, present participle weaseling or weaselling, simple past and past participle weaseled or weaselled)

1. To achieve by clever or devious means.
   • 2010 (publication date), Tony Dajer, "Vital Signs", Discover, ISSN 0274-7529, volume 32, number 1, January–February 2011, page 10:

     Prisoners are notorious for weaseling day passes to get out of lockup […] .

Usage notes

• Weaseling and weaseled are more common in the US. Weaselling and weaselled are more common in the UK.

Derived terms

• weasel one's way
• weasel out

Translations

to weasel out of doing something

Finnish: lusmuilla (fi), kiemurrella (fi) Polish: wykręcić się (pl)

Russian: увиливать (ru) (uvílivat') impf., увильнуть (ru) (uvil'nút') pf.

to weasel something out of somebody

Finnish: huiputtaa (fi), kieroilla (fi)

See also

• ferret
• mink
• polecat
• stoat