þvottabjörn

Icelandic

A mother raccoon and her four kits eating cherries in a suburban backyard in Burnaby, BC.

Etymology

From þvottur (“washing”) +‎ björn (“bear”).

Cognate with Norwegian Bokmål vaskebjørn, Danish vaskebjørn, Swedish tvättbjörn, and German Waschbär.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈθvɔhtaˌpjœrtn/

Noun

þvottabjörn m (genitive singular þvottabjarnar, nominative plural þvottabirnir)

1. raccoon

Declension

Declension of þvottabjörn (masculine, based on björn)

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	þvottabjörn	þvottabjörninn	þvottabirnir	þvottabirnirnir
accusative	þvottabjörn	þvottabjörninn	þvottabirni	þvottabirnina
dative	þvottabirni	þvottabirninum	þvottabjörnum	þvottabjörnunum
genitive	þvottabjarnar	þvottabjarnarins	þvottabjarna	þvottabjarnanna

Further reading

• “þvottabjörn” in the Dictionary of Modern Icelandic (in Icelandic) and ISLEX (in the Nordic languages)