stoat

American  

[stoht] / stoʊt /

noun

1. the ermine, Mustela erminea, especially when in brown summer pelage.

---

stoat British  

/ stəʊt /

noun

1. a small Eurasian musteline mammal, Mustela erminea, closely related to the weasels, having a brown coat and a black-tipped tail: in the northern parts of its range it has a white winter coat and is then known as an ermine

---

Etymology

Origin of stoat

1425–75; late Middle English stote < ?

Compare meaning

How does stoat compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• stoat vs. mink

Example Sentences

This makes it yet another introduced species like the rat or stoat, with unpredictable behavior.

From Slate • Aug. 8, 2025

On one predator-free island—home to threatened species such as a flightless parrot called the kakapo—the government spent some $295,000 over eight months tracking down a single stoat.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 5, 2024

A problem that appears to consist of a single stoat.

From New York Times • Jun. 5, 2022

Already, he has shown that temperature can predict when beech masting will occur and stoat control will be needed.

From Science Magazine • Nov. 23, 2021

He was impervious to the fascination of the mustelidae, and hoped someday to kill a weasel, if not a stoat.

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams