A Scandinavian word for the softest fur in the world — whose industry was nearly destroyed overnight by a pandemic in 2020.
A small, semiaquatic carnivorous mammal prized for its soft, thick, lustrous fur, or the fur itself.
From Scandinavian, probably Swedish menk or Danish mink, of uncertain further origin Key roots: menk/mink (Scandinavian: "mink").
In 2020, Denmark ordered the culling of all 17 million farmed mink in the country after discovering they could carry and mutate COVID-19. The decision temporarily destroyed the world's largest mink farming industry and raised existential questions about the fur trade's future.