ermine
/ˈɜːmɪn/US/ˈɝmɪn/
ermine noun: a weasel found in northern latitudes (Mustela erminea in Eurasia, Alaska, and the Arctic, Mustela haidarum in Haida Gwaii, Mustela richardsonii in the rest of North America); its dark brown fur turns white in winter, apart from the black tip of the tail.
Noun
ermine (countable and uncountable, plural ermines or ermine)
- A weasel found in northern latitudes (Mustela erminea in Eurasia, Alaska, and the Arctic, Mustela haidarum in Haida Gwaii, Mustela richardsonii in the rest of North America); its dark brown fur turns white in winter, apart from the black tip of the tail.
- The white fur of this animal, traditionally seen as a symbol of purity and used for judges' robes.
- The office of a judge.
- The fur of this animal, used as a heraldic tincture: a white field with a repeating pattern of stylized black spots.
- Any of various moths, especially in the family Yponomeutidae
Adjective
ermine (not comparable)
- In blazon, of the colour ermine (white with black spots).
Verb
ermine (third-person singular simple present ermines, present participle ermining, simple past and past participle ermined)
- To clothe with ermine.
ermine meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Tagalog and Arabic
ermine in Tamil
- இதுவும் ஒரு சிற்றினம் ஆகும்
ermine in Urdu
- ermine, stoat
- قاقم qāqum
ermine in Tagalog
- Mustela erminea, M. richardsonii, M. haidarum
- arminyo
ermine in Arabic
- Mustela erminea, M. richardsonii, M. haidarum
- قَاقِم qāqim
More languagesFewer languages
- ermine in Persian
- قاقم qâqom
Synonyms of ermine
Forms of ermine
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | ermines |
| plural | ermine |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | ermines |
| present participle | ermining |
| past participle | ermined |
| past | ermined |
Origin of ermine
From Middle English ermine, ermin, ermyn, from Old French ermin, ermine, hermine. There are two main theories for the origin of Old French ermine. Germanic origin is suggested via Old Dutch *harmino (“stoat skin”), from *harmo (“stoat, weasel”) (compare Dutch hermelijn and dialectal herm), from Proto-Germanic *harmǭ, *harmô (compare Old English hearma, Old High German harmo (harmin (adjective), obsolete German Harm), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱormō (compare Romansh carmun, obsolete Lithuanian šarmuõ). Romance sources identify the animal with the corresponding word for Armenian, possibly from Medieval Latin mūs Armenius (“Armenian mouse”) or a posterior compound.
Words formed from ermine
Phrases with ermine
Words that rhyme with ermine
Questions about ermine
- What does ermine mean?
- Ermine means a weasel found in northern latitudes (Mustela erminea in Eurasia, Alaska, and the Arctic, Mustela haidarum in Haida Gwaii, Mustela richardsonii in the rest of North America); its dark brown fur turns white in winter, apart from the black tip of the tail.
- What is ermine in Tamil?
- Ermine in Tamil is இதுவும் ஒரு சிற்றினம் ஆகும். See Ermine meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is ermine?
- Ermine can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce ermine?
- Ermine is pronounced /ˈɜːmɪn/ (UK).
- What is the plural of ermine?
- The plural of ermine is ermines.
Words near ermine in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ermine (page history and authors); ermine (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); قاقم (Urdu) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ermine.wav.
Cite this entry: “ermine.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ermine. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.