tanuki

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tanuki

/təˈnʊkɪ/ UK
/tɑˈnuki/ US
/ˈtɑnuki/ US

Rhymes with -ʊki, -uːki

Where it comes from

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

noun tanuki · tanukis · tanooki

A raccoon dog, Nyctereutes viverrinus. At my onboarding, I was told that one of GitHub's employees identified as a tanuki, a Japanese raccoon dog—this was fine.
Similar: mangut
Japanese A folkloric figure in the form of a tanuki, regarded as a shapeshifter and renowned for its enormous scrotum and testicles.
The joining of a living bonsai tree to a piece of dead wood for aesthetic effect.

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MLA

"tanuki." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/tanuki. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

tanuki. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/tanuki

Chicago

"tanuki." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/tanuki.

BibTeX

@misc{tanuki_2026,
  title = {tanuki},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/tanuki},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}