marten

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a slender, agile, tree-climbing mammal of the weasel family, especially one of the genus Martes

   A pine marten slipped between the trunks before the hikers could photograph it.

From Middle English martren or martryn and Old French martrine, 'marten fur,' ultimately related to a Germanic name for the animal. The spelling marten helped distinguish the mustelid from martin, now chiefly the name of a swallow-like bird.

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