weasel

English

Wikipedia ^en

A weasel Mustela frenata (2)

Etymology

From Middle English wesele, from Old English weosule, from Proto-Germanic *wisulǭ (compare West Frisian wezeling, Low German Wessel, Wissel, Dutch wezel, German Wiesel, Swedish vessla), 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

• Algonquin: cigosi
• Arabic: ابْن عِرْس (ar) (ibn 3irs) m

  Moroccan Arabic: فارة الخيل (farat el-khil) f (litt. horse-mouse)

• Armenian: աքիս (hy) (ak'is)
• Basque: erbinude (eu)
• Belarusian: ласка (be) (láska) f
• Breton: kaerell (br)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 黃鼠狼 (cmn), 黄鼠狼 (cmn) (huángshǔláng)

• Czech: lasice (cs) f
• Danish: brud (da) c
• Dutch: wezel (nl) f and m
• Esperanto: (♂) vizelo (eo), (♀) 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
• Galician: denociña (gl) f
• German: Wiesel (de) n, Mauswiesel (de) n, Zwergwiesel (de) n, Kleinwiesel (de) n, (popularly) Hermännchen (de) n
• Greek: νυφίτσα (el) (nifítsa) f

  Ancient: γαλῆ f

• Hebrew: סמור (he) (samur)
• Hungarian: menyét (hu)
• Irish: bláthnaid ghallda (ga) f
• Italian: donnola (it) f
• Japanese: イタチ (ja) (itachi), 鼬鼠 (ja) (いたち, itachi), 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)
• Romanian: nevăstuică (ro) f
• Russian: ласка (ru) (láska) f
• Scots: whitrat
• Scottish Gaelic: neas (gd) f, neas bheag (gd) f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ласица (sh) f

  Roman: lasica (sh) f

• Slovene: podlasica (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: łasyca f, łasycka f

  Upper Sorbian: kohlica f

• Spanish: comadreja (es) f, mustela (es) f, turón (es) m
• Turkish: gelincik (tr)
• Ukrainian: ласка (uk) (láska) f
• Volapük: (♂♀) visaf (vo)
• Walloon: marcote (wa) f, bascolete (wa) f
• West Frisian: wezeling (fy) c

any mammal of the genus Mustela

• Esperanto: (♂♀) mustelo (eo), (♂) virmustelo (eo), (♀) mustelino (eo)
• Finnish: kärppä (fi)
• German: Wiesel (de) n
• Hungarian: menyét (hu)
• Navajo: dlǫ́ʼii

• Scottish Gaelic: neas (gd) f
• Volapük: (♂♀) visaf (vo)
• West Frisian: marter (fy) c

any mammal of the family Mustelidae

• Esperanto: (♂♀) musteledo (eo), (♂) virmusteledo (eo), (♀) musteledino (eo)
• Finnish: näätäeläin (fi)
• Indonesian: luwak

• Irish: easóg (ga) f, cailín uasal (ga) m, beainín uasal (ga) f
• Walloon: bascolidî (wa) m

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
• 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)
• 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. (transitive) 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 […] .

2. (transitive or reflexive) To gain something for oneself by clever or devious means.
   • 2006, Tony Ruggiero, Alien Deception:

     He's weaseled himself into a position where he can influence the outcome of this election.

   • 2010, Susie Davis, Uncovered: Revealing the Secrets of a Sexy Marriage, page 147:

     Within just a couple of days, she [a dog] had weaseled her way into our hearts.

3. (intransitive) To engage in clever or devious behavior.
   • 1996, Stefan Bechtel, Larry Stains, Sex: A Man's Guide, page 151:

     Authority figures have a history of weaseling on this topic.

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