tanuki

Where does the word "tanuki" come from? It comes from Japanese tanuki, and was adopted directly into English (1900s-1900s).

Tanuki’s story begins in Japanese: tanuki meant “a raccoon dog, or the mischievous spirit said to take its form.” Named the raccoon dog, a trickster figure in Japanese folklore. It reached English by 1900s-1900s as tanuki. Tanuki statues with straw hats stand outside Japanese restaurants for luck. Today, tanuki means the Japanese raccoon dog, or the shapeshifting trickster spirit of folklore based on it.

1. Stage 1 · Japanese · medieval tanuki "a raccoon dog, or the mischievous spirit said to take its form", named the raccoon dog, a trickster figure in Japanese folklore.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1900s-1900s tanuki "the Japanese raccoon dog or its folkloric trickster spirit", tanuki statues with straw hats stand outside Japanese restaurants for luck.