ermine

ermine name for a number of northern species of weasel having white coats in winter, and highly prized for their white fur. It most commonly refers to the white phase of Mustela erminea, called short-tailed weasel in North America and stoat in the Old World. The white pelts are made into wraps, coats, and trimmings. The black-tipped tails are used in the United States as ornament, and in Europe they were used with the ermine of royal robes.

ermine stoat XII; fur of this, often having the black tails arrayed upon it XIII. — OF. (h)ermine (mod. hermine), :- medL. (mũs) Armenius ‘Armenian mouse’, equiv. to L. mũs Ponticus ‘mouse of Pontus’ (Armenia and Pontus were conterminous). But contact with similar Gmc. words is possible, viz. OHG. harmĩn adj., f. harmo stoat, weasel (G. harme) = OE. hearma (etc.).

ermine a stoat, especially in its white winter coat. The word comes through Old French, and probably derives ultimately from medieval Latin (mus) Armenius ‘Armenian (mouse)’.

Ermine also denotes the white fur of the stoat, used for trimming garments, especially the ceremonial robes of judges or peers; in heraldry, it is fur represented as black spots on a white ground, as a heraldic tincture (the spots represent the dark tips of the ermines' tails, and are usually elaborated into short vertical lines with small curved projections, often with (usually three) smaller dots above).