Meaning

noun musteline mammal of prairie regions of United States; nearly extinct

noun domesticated albino variety of the European polecat bred for hunting rats and rabbits

verb hound or harry relentlessly

originEtymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *bʰléh₃s Proto-Italic *flōs Latin flōrem Italian fiore Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Italic *-tosder.? Late Latin -ittus Italian -etto Italian fiorettobor. English ferret Borrowed from Italian fioretto.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0