Whittret

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small, slender, meat-eating mammal of the weasel family, used in some regional English dialects for the weasel or stoat
2. An old dialect name for a small carnivorous animal related to the weasel, with a long slim body and short legs
3. A regional term for a weasel-like creature of the mustelid family, known for its quick movements and narrow frame

Etymology: A whittret is an old name for the weasel, and its roots are about as plain as a compound can be: "white" joined to "rat". The pairing is an odd one, since the animal is neither white nor a rat, but English speakers have long used "white" loosely in animal names to mean pale or light-coloured, as in the white-tailed pale fur of some weasels in winter. The "rat" element reflects the creature's rodent-like body and its habit of hunting small mammals in the same burrows and hedgerows. The spelling "whittret" is an alternative form of "whitret", and the two variants simply reflect the uncertain spelling of a dialect word. Because the name is an everyday compound rather than a learned coinage, its history is best understood as a folk description of the animal rather than a formal scientific or literary invention.

Synonyms: weasel, stoat