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^(key): /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 m (ibn 3irs)

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

• Armenian: աքիս (akʿis)
• Basque: erbinude (eu)
• Belarusian: ласка f (láska)
• Breton: kaerell
• Chinese:

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

• Czech: lasice f
• Danish: brud (da) c
• Dutch: wezel (nl) f, m
• Esperanto: (♂) vizelo, (♀) vizelino
• Estonian: nirk
• Finnish: lumikko (fi)
• French: belette (fr) f, belette d'Europe (fr) f, belette pygmée (fr) f, petite belette (fr) f
• Galician: denociña f
• German: Wiesel (de) n, Mauswiesel n, Zwergwiesel n, Kleinwiesel n, (popularly) Hermännchen n
• Greek: νυφίτσα (el) f (nyfítsa)

  Ancient: γαλῆ f (galē)

• Hebrew: סמור (samur)
• Hungarian: menyét (hu)
• Irish: bláthnaid ghallda f
• Italian: donnola (it) f
• Japanese: イタチ (itachi), 鼬鼠 (いたち, itachi), 飯綱 (いいずな, īzuna)
• Korean: 족제비 (jokjebi)

• Latgalian: luoseica
• Latvian: zebiekste f
• Lithuanian: žebenkštis m
• Luxembourgish: Wisel n
• Macedonian: ласица f (lásica)
• Mazanderani: لسک (lesk)
• Navajo: dlǫ́ʼii
• Persian: راسو (fa) (râsu)
• Polish: łasica (pl) f
• Portuguese: doninha (pt)
• Romanian: nevăstuică (ro) f
• Russian: ласка (ru) f (láska)
• Scots: whitrat
• Scottish Gaelic: neas f, neas bheag f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ласица f

  Roman: lasica f

• Slovene: podlasica (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: łasyca f, łasycka f

  Upper Sorbian: kohlica f

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

any mammal of the genus Mustela

• Esperanto: (♂♀) mustelo, (♂) virmustelo, (♀) mustelino
• Finnish: kärppä (fi)
• German: Wiesel (de) n
• Hungarian: menyét (hu)
• Indonesian: cerpelai (id)

• Navajo: dlǫ́ʼii
• Scottish Gaelic: neas f
• Volapük: (♂♀) visaf
• West Frisian: marter c

any mammal of the family Mustelidae

• Esperanto: (♂♀) musteledo, (♂) virmusteledo, (♀) musteledino
• Finnish: näätäeläin (fi)
• Irish: easóg f, cailín uasal m, beainín uasal f

• Spanish: comadreja (es) f
• Walloon: bascolidî 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 (laska)
• 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, kiemurrella
• Polish: wykręcić się (pl)

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

to weasel something out of somebody

• Finnish: huiputtaa (fi), kieroilla

See also

• ferret
• mink
• polecat
• stoat