ermelin

E1R1M3E1L1I1N1

noun

An ermine.

OriginGerman Hermelin ← Middle High German hermelin ← Proto-West Germanic *harmō →
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Meanings

nounermelin (plural ermelins)

plural ermelins · alternative ermilin

  1. obsoleteAn ermine.

    And on his shield enueloped seuenfold / He bore a crowned litle Ermilin [...].

    1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

Origin

  1. Proto-Germanic*harmô“weasel”
  2. Proto-West Germanic*harmō
  3. Middle High Germanhermelin
  4. GermanHermelin“ermine”
  5. Englishermelin

Borrowed from German Hermelin (“ermine”), from Middle High German hermelin, from Old High German harmilī, harmilīn (“weasel”), diminutive of Old High German harmo (“ermine, stoat, weasel”), from Proto-West Germanic *harmō, from Proto-Germanic *harmô (“weasel”). Cognate with Italian ermellino (“ermine”), from the same Germanic source. More at ermine.

More words from German, Middle High German, Proto-West Germanic

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

ermelin. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ermelin

MLA

“ermelin.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ermelin. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ermelin,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ermelin.

Source: ermelin on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.