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tanuki.

A raccoon dog, Nyctereutes viverrinus.

6 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/təˈnʊkɪ/UK/tɑˈnuki/US/ˈtɑnuki/US
  1. A raccoon dog, Nyctereutes viverrinus.

  2. A folkloric figure in the form of a tanuki, regarded as a shapeshifter and renowned for its enormous scrotum and testicles.

    Japanese
  3. The joining of a living bonsai tree to a piece of dead wood for aesthetic effect.

Where this word comes from

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

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.