tanuki

English

A tanuki or raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides)

Raccoon dog

Alternative forms

• tanooki

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 狸(たぬき) (tanuki, “raccoon dog”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /təˈnʊkɪ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /tɑˈnuki/
• Rhymes: -ʊki, -uːki
• Hyphenation: ta‧nuki

Noun

tanuki (plural tanuki or tanukis)

1. The raccoon dog, Nyctereutes procyonoides.

   Synonym: mangut

   • 2023 May 28, Nadia Asparouhova, “Remembering GitHub's Office, a Monument to Tech Culture”, in Wired‎^[1], →ISSN:

     At my onboarding, I was told that one of GitHub's employees identified as a tanuki, a Japanese raccoon dog—this was fine.

2. (Japanese mythology) A folkloric figure in the form of a tanuki, regarded as a shapeshifter and renowned for its enormous scrotum and testicles.
3. The joining of a living bonsai tree to a piece of dead wood for aesthetic effect.

Anagrams

• Kaniut, Kutina, Anukit

Cebuano

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 狸 (たぬき, tanuki, “raccoon dog”).

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ta‧nu‧ki

Noun

tanuki

1. a raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides)

Japanese

Romanization

tanuki

1. Rōmaji transcription of たぬき
2. Rōmaji transcription of タヌキ

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Japanese 狸 (たぬき, tanuki, “raccoon dog”).

Noun

tanuki m (plural tanukis)

1. raccoon dog; tanuki (Nyctereutes procyonoides, a canid of East Asia)