山犬

Japanese

Kanji in this term
山	犬
やま Grade: 1	いぬ Grade: 1
kun'yomi

山犬 (yamainu): a sketch of a Japanese wild dog.

Etymology

Compound of 山 (yama, “mountain”) +‎ 犬 (inu, “dog”).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) やまいぬ [yàmáínú] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [ja̠ma̠inɯ̟]

Noun

山(やま)犬(いぬ) or 山犬(ヤマイヌ) • (yamainu) 

1. Synonym of 日本狼 (Nihon'ōkami, “Japanese wolf”)
2. Synonym of 野犬 (yaken, “wild dog”)
3. (Japanese mythology) an apparition of a dog that may appear to travelers on mountain roads, and that may be either friendly or murderous to travelers
4. Synonym of ドール (dōru, “dhole”)

Usage notes

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary), as ヤマイヌ.

Biologists consider the Japanese yamainu to be a feral dog, distinct from the wolf. The conflation with the 日本狼 (Nihon ōkami, “Japanese wolf”) sense is due to some confusion in general usage. See more on Wikipedia.

Synonyms

• (canine apparition appearing to travelers): 送(おく)り犬(いぬ) (okuriinu)

See also

• 犬(いぬ)神(がみ) (inugami)