1.
weasel (various species of the family Mustelidae, especially the Japanese weasel)
A small, slender carnivorous mammal with a long body, short legs, and brown or yellowish-brown fur. In Japan the term most often refers to the Japanese weasel (ニホンイタチ) and the closely related Siberian weasel (チョウセンイタチ). Weasels are widespread in fields and around houses, and have a reputation for cunning and for emitting a foul-smelling defensive odor.
Usually written in katakana (イタチ) in modern texts, following the convention for animal names; the kanji 鼬 exists but is rarely used outside literary or specialist contexts.
Usage
- Often appears in rural or pest-control contexts: weasels are considered both beneficial (they eat rats and mice) and troublesome (they raid henhouses and nest in houses).
- The idiom イタチの最後っ屁 ('weasel's last fart') refers to a final desperate, unpleasant trick by someone losing a fight; it comes from the weasel's defensive stink.
- イタチごっこ ('weasel game') is a very common idiom meaning an endless, fruitless back-and-forth — see Similar Words.
Common collocations
- イタチが出る: a weasel appears
- イタチに襲われる: to be attacked by a weasel
- イタチを捕まえる: to catch a weasel
- イタチの鳴き声: the cry of a weasel
- 野生のイタチ: a wild weasel
Similar words
- イタチごっこ: a futile back-and-forth; a cat-and-mouse game — very common idiom derived from this word.
- テン: marten — a larger, arboreal relative often confused with イタチ.
- フェレット: ferret — a domesticated relative, sometimes kept as a pet.
- スカンク: skunk — not native to Japan but known as another small, smelly mustelid-like animal.