mouton

"Mouton" is the French word for "sheep," and in English it appears mostly in special contexts rather than everyday speech. In heraldry, it means a sheep shown on a coat of arms or shield. In fashion and textiles, it refers to sheepskin that has been sheared, processed, and often dyed so it looks smooth and fur-like. You will often see the word in names such as mouton coat or mouton fur, especially in older writing and clothing descriptions.

The word "mouton" comes from French, where it simply means "sheep." In English, though, it is mostly used as a borrowed term with a few special meanings. One is in heraldry, where a mouton is a sheep used as a charge on a shield or coat of arms. In that setting, the word is part of the traditional language of blazons and older descriptions.

Another important English use is in textiles and fashion. Here, mouton means sheepskin that has been processed by shearing, dyeing, and finishing so that it has a soft, even, fur-like surface. It has often been used for coats, collars, linings, and similar items. In many contexts, this is the sense English learners are most likely to meet.

You may also see the word inside fixed foreign phrases, especially in technical or historical writing, but those are less central than the heraldic and textile senses. Overall, mouton in English usually points either to a sheep in formal heraldic language or to finished sheepskin in clothing and fabric descriptions.