너구리

Korean

너구리

너구리와 닮은 라쿤

Etymology

First attested as Middle Korean 러ᅌᅮᆯ〮 (lèngwúl) in the Hunminjeong'eum haerye (訓民正音解例 / 훈민정음해례)^[1], 1446. Possibly displaced ᄉᆞᆰ (solk, “leopard cat, raccoon dog?”), whence modern 삵 (sak).

Clearly equivalent to a suffixed form 너굴 (neogul) +‎ 이 (-i), as is typical with animal names, but the consonant alternation in the root from the form above is difficult to explain. The initial /l/ may suggest that the term was originally borrowed.

Pronunciation

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [nʌ̹ɡuɾi]
• Phonetic hangul: [너구리]

Romanizations
Revised Romanization?	neoguri
Revised Romanization (translit.)?	neoguli
McCune–Reischauer?	nŏguri
Yale Romanization?	nekwuli

• South Gyeongsang (Busan) pitch accent: 너구리의 / 너구리에 / 너구리까지

  Syllables in red take high pitch. This word always takes high pitch on the second syllable, and lowers the pitch of subsequent suffixes.

Noun

너구리 • (neoguri) (counter 마리)

1. raccoon dog
2. (colloquial, proscribed) raccoon (American procyonid)

   Synonyms: (standard) 라쿤 (rakun), 미국너구리 (migungneoguri), 아메리카너구리 (amerikaneoguri)

Usage notes

Prescriptively, this term only refers to the raccoon dog, which is an unrelated species to the Procyon lotor (라쿤 (rakun)). ᅟHowever, because the latter is not native to Korea and bears a visual semblance to the former, many people colloquially refer to both as the more familiar 너구리 (neoguri). When specificity is required, some people may also refer to the latter as 미국너구리 (migungneoguri) or 아메리카너구리 (amerikaneoguri).

Derived terms

• 긴코너구리 (ginkoneoguri, “coatimundi”)
• (cant) 마당너구리 (madangneoguri, “dog”)
• 미국너구리 (migungneoguri, “raccoon”)
• 아메리카너구리 (amerikaneoguri, “raccoon”)