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Tanuki

2 stages from Japanese to English.

Today it means the Japanese raccoon dog, or the shapeshifting trickster spirit of folklore based on it

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

tanuki→tanuki

Japanese · medieval

"a raccoon dog, or the mischievous spirit said to take its form"

named the raccoon dog, a trickster figure in Japanese folklore

English · 1900s-1900s

"the Japanese raccoon dog or its folkloric trickster spirit"

borrowed by naturalists and folklorists describing Japanese wildlife and myth

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