noun, masculine/vi.zɔ̃/plural: visons
mink
Related: vison d'Amérique, vison d'Europe
Inherited from Old French vison, of uncertain origin. Perhaps borrowed from a Germanic source such as Frankish *wisulā (compare Old High German wisula (“weasel”). (An alternative suggestion that the term derives from Old High German wisunt (“bison”) is semantically implausible.) Alternatively, perhaps from Vulgar Latin *viso, Latin visio (“to fart”), vissio (“stench”), in reference to their scent glands (near the anus).