Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slender bodies and short legs.

This usage is retained in British English, where the name is also extended to cover several other small species of the genus.

Worldwide (domesticated); New Zealand (non-native) 1 Europe and Northern Asia division excludes China.

[9]: 255 In Montagne Noire (France), Ruthenia, and the early medieval culture of the Wends, weasels were not meant to be killed.

[10] In English-speaking areas, weasel can be an insult, noun or verb, for someone regarded as sneaky, conniving or untrustworthy.

[14] In Japanese, weasels are called iizuna or izuna (飯綱) and in the Tōhoku Region and Shinshu, it was believed that there were families that were able to use a certain practice to freely use kudagitsune as iizuna-tsukai or kitsune-mochi.

It is said that Mount Iizuna, from the Nagano Prefecture, got its name due to how the gods gave people mastery of this technique from there.

[15] According to the folklorist Mutō Tetsujō, "They are called izuna in the Senboku District,[* 2] Akita Prefecture, and there are also the ichiko (itako) that use them.

An alternate theory, asserts that kamaitachi is derived from kamae Tachi (構え太刀, "stance sword"), so were not originally related to weasels at all.