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mar·ten (märtn)
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n. pl. marten or mar·tens
1. Any of several mustelid mammals of the genus Martes, mainly inhabiting northern forests and having a slender body, bushy tail, and soft fur.
2. The fur of one of these mammals.
[Middle English martrin, marten, from Old French martrine, from feminine of martrin, relating to the marten, from martre, marten, from Frankish *martar, from Proto-Germanic *marthra, perhaps originally "bride" and akin to Lithuanian marti, bride, Latin marītus, married, and possibly Crimean Gothic marzus, wedding. For the semantic development, compare Modern Greek nifítsa, weasel (from diminutive of nífi, bride, daughter-in-law), Italian donnola, weasel (from diminutive of donna, woman), and Spanish comadreja, weasel (from deprecative diminutive of comadre, mother of one's godchild, godmother of one's child).]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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