weasel
wea·sel/ˈwizəl/noun, verb
weasel is spelled W-E-A-S-E-L, 2 syllables: wea·sel. The wrong spelling people search most is weasle: about 510 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 14 of all searches for the word. Weasel is a noun meaning “Any of the carnivorous mammals of the genera Mustela, Neogale, Poecilogale, and Lyncodon, having a slender…”. The plural of weasel is weasels.
How many letters and syllables are in weasel?
| Letters | 6: W-E-A-S-E-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: wea·sel |
| In writing | 1.5 times per million words; the 22,651st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, weasle, about 510 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell weasel?
Weasel is spelled W-E-A-S-E-L. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 12 of the searches for weasel in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is weasel?
Weasel appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 22,651st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce weasel?
- UK /ˈwiːz(ə)l/
- US /ˈwizəl/
- US /ˈwizl̩/
Weasel has 2 syllables, split wea·sel in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-weasel.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with weasel?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as weasel from its last stressed vowel (/izəl/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of weasel
- weasels plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- weazel
- weazle
- weaseling US, participle, present
- weaselling UK, participle, present
- weaseled US, participle, past
- weaselled UK, participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does weasel mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any of the carnivorous mammals of the genera Mustela, Neogale, Poecilogale, and Lyncodon, having a slender body, a long tail and usually a light brown upper coat and light-coloured belly.
- 2
A least weasel (Mustela nivalis).
- 3
Any of certain other species of the family Mustelidae.
- 4
derogatoryinformalA devious or sneaky person or animal.
- 5
A type of yarn winder used for counting the yardage of handspun yarn; spinner's weasel. It most commonly has a wooden peg or dowel that pops up from the gearing mechanism after a certain number of yards have been wound onto the winder.
verb
- 1
To achieve by clever or devious means.
Prisoners are notorious for weaseling day passes to get out of lockup […] .
- 2
To gain something for oneself by clever or devious means.
- 3
To engage in clever or devious behavior.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Weasel in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense least weasel, Mustela nivalis:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | belette, belette d'Europe, belette pygmée, petite belette, fouine |
| German | Wiesel, Mauswiesel, Zwergwiesel, Kleinwiesel, Hermännchen |
| Portuguese | doninha |
| Spanish | comadreja, mustela, turón |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does weasel come from?
From Middle English wesele, from Old English weosule, from Proto-West Germanic *wisulā, from Proto-Germanic *wisulǭ. The verb is from c. 1900, from the supposed cunningness of the weasel.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).