Etymology

ferret

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Today it means: An often domesticated mammal (Mustela putorius furo) rather like a weasel, descended from the European polecat and often trained to hunt burrowing animals. Full definition →

Middle English furet ← Old French furet ← Vulgar Latin *furittum
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ferret · noun, verb1

  1. Latin · derived fromfūr“thief”
  2. Vulgar Latin · derived from*furittum“weasel, ferret”
  3. Old French · derived fromfuret
  4. Middle English · inherited fromfuret
  5. English todayferret

From Middle English furet, ferret, from Old French furet, from Vulgar Latin *furittum (“weasel, ferret”), diminutive of Latin fūr (“thief”).

ferret · noun2

  1. Proto-Indo-European*bʰleh₃-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*bʰléh₃s
  3. Proto-Italic*flōs
  4. Latinflōrem
  5. Italianfiore
  6. Italianfioretto
  7. English todayferret

Borrowed from Italian fioretto.

Words from the same roots

Latinfūr all →

fury

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.