洗熊

Japanese

Kanji in this term
洗	熊
あら(い) Grade: 6	くま > ぐま Grade: 4
kun’yomi

Alternative spellings
洗い熊 浣熊

Etymology

Calque of New Latin Ursus lotor, equivalent to 洗い (arai, “washing”, from 洗う (“to wash”)) +‎ 熊 (kuma, “bear”), based on raccoons' behavior of washing things that they like.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) あらい​ぐま [àráíꜜgùmà] (Nakadaka – [3])
• (Tokyo) あら​いぐま [àráꜜìgùmà] (Nakadaka – [2])
• IPA^(key): [a̠ɾa̠iɡɯ̟ᵝma̠]

Noun

洗(あらい)熊(ぐま) or 洗熊(アライグマ) • (araiguma) ^{←あらひぐま (arafiguma)?}

1. a raccoon (nocturnal omnivore living in North America, Procyon lotor)
   • 2020 March 21, Kazuki Nakashima, “Rabbit Town”, in BNA ビー・エヌ・エー [BNA], episode 2, spoken by Shirou Ogami (Yoshimasa Hosoya), Toho/Netflix:

     アライグマなら尻(しっ)尾(ぽ)にシマがある。どう見(み)でもタヌキだ。

     Araiguma nara shippo ni shima ga aru. Dō mi demo tanuki da.

     If you're a raccoon, you'd have stripes on your tail. No matter how you look at it, you're a raccoon dog.

See also

• 狸(タヌキ) (tanuki, “raccoon dog”)