stoat

Meanings

Plural: stoats

Noun

the ermine in its brown summer coat with black-tipped tail
Mustela erminea, the ermine or short-tailed weasel, a mustelid native to Eurasia and North America, distinguished from the least weasel by its larger size and longer tail with a prominent black tip.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English stote (“the ermine, especially in its brown summer coat”), of uncertain origin. The word bears some resemblance to Old Norse stutr (“bull”), Swedish stut (“bull, steer”) and Danish stud (“steer”) (see also English stot), but the semantic link is difficult unless a common origin is from “(brown?) male mammal”. First attested in the mid 1400s.

Synonyms

clubster, ermine, short-tailed weasel

Scrabble Score: 5

stoat is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
stoat is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
stoat is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 5

stoat is a valid Words With Friends word