raccoon

See also: Raccoon

English

WOTD – 23 June 2010

A common raccoon (Procyon lotor).

A raccoon raiding a bird feeder at night.

Alternative forms

• racoon [from 17th c.]
• rarowcun [17th c.]
• r'coon (colloquial contraction)
• coon (colloquial contraction)

Etymology

From arocoun (1608), from Powhatan ärähkun, from ärähkuněm (“he scratches with his hands”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɹəˈkuːn/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɹæˈkun/, /ɹəˈkun/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːn

Noun

raccoon (plural raccoons)

2. An omnivorous, nocturnal mammal native to North America, typically with a mixture of gray, brown, and black fur, a mask-like marking around the eyes and a striped tail; Procyon lotor.
   • 1624, Iohn Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: […], London: […] I[ohn] D[awson] and I[ohn] H[aviland] for Michael Sparkes, →OCLC, (please specify |book=1 to 6); reprinted in The Generall Historie of Virginia, [...] (Bibliotheca Americana), Cleveland, Oh.: The World Publishing Company, 1966, →OCLC:

     Before a fire upon a seat like a bedsted, he sat covered with a great robe, made of Rarowcun skinnes, and all the tayles hanging by.

   • 1634, William Wood, “Of the Beasts that Live on the Land”, in New Englands Prospect. A True, Lively, and Experimentall Description of that Part of America, Commonly Called New England; […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Bellamie, […], →OCLC, 1st part, page 22:

     The Rackoone is a deepe furred beaſt, not much unlike a Badger, having a tayle like a Fox, as good meate as a Lambe; there is one of them in the Tovver.

   • 2010 April 3, Charlie Brooker, “Screen Burn”, in The Guardian:

     Thus we're presented with […] a man who has the head of his penis bitten off by a raccoon, then bleeds to death in a forest.

3. Any mammal of the genus Procyon.
4. Any mammal of the subfamily Procyoninae, a procyonine.
5. Any mammal of the family Procyonidae, a procyonid.
6. (loosely, proscribed) Any mammal superficially resembling a raccoon, such as a raccoon dog.

Synonyms

• (Procyon lotor): coon (colloquial), common raccoon, North American raccoon, northern raccoon, trash panda

Derived terms

• coon
• coon dog
• coonhound
• Cozumel raccoon (Procyon pygmaeus)
• crab-eating raccoon (Procyon cancrivorus)
• Finn raccoon
• in a raccoon's age / in a coon's age
• pygmy raccoon (Procyon pygmaeus)
• raccoon-berry
• raccoon butterfly (Chaetodon fasciatus)
• raccoon butterflyfish, (Chaetodon lunula)
• raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides)
• raccoon eyes
• raccoon fox
• raccoon oyster
• raccoon tail

 

Translations

See also: Raccoon

northern raccoon range

nocturnal omnivore living in North America, Procyon lotor

• Afrikaans: wasbeer, wasbeertjie
• Amharic: ሩኖ (runo)
• Apache:

  Western Apache: tulį

• Arabic: رَاكُون m (rākūn)
• Armenian: ջրարջ (hy) (ǰrarǰ), ջրարջ սովորական (ǰrarǰ sovorakan)
• Aymara: jaguachini
• Azerbaijani: yenot (az), xəz (az)
• Basque: mapatxe
• Belarusian: яно́т m (janót)
• Bulgarian: ено́т (bg) m (enót), миеща мечка f (miešta mečka)
• Burmese: ရက်ကွန်းဝံ (rakkwan:wam)
• Catalan: os rentador m
• Catawba: tcigne
• Cayuga: saːnoːʼ
• Central Sierra Miwok: pátkajy-
• Cherokee: ᎬᎵ (gvli), ᎬᏟ (gvtli)
• Cheyenne: matšėškōme
• Chickasaw: shawi
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 浣熊 (wun⁵ hung⁴)

  Mandarin: 浣熊 (zh) (huànxióng)

• Choctaw: shaui
• Chol: 'ejmech
• Cocopa: nymaṣ
• Creek: wotko
• Czech: mýval (cs) m
• Danish: vaskebjørn (da) c
• Dutch: wasbeer (nl) m
• Esperanto: lav-urso, prociono
• Estonian: pesukaru (et)
• Faroese: tváttarbjørn f
• Finnish: pesukarhu (fi), supi (fi)
• French: (more exactly) raton laveur commun m, (less exactly) raton laveur (fr) m, chaoui (fr) m (Louisiana), chat sauvage (fr) m (Quebec), chat-chouage (fr) m (Missouri)
• Galician: mapache (gl) m
• Georgian: ენოტი (enoṭi)
• German: Waschbär (de) m, (obsolete) Schupp (de) m

  Pennsylvania German: Ragguune

• Greek: ρακούν (el) (rakoún)
• Hawaiian: lakuna
• Hebrew: דְּבִיבוֹן (he) m (dvivón), רָקוּן (he) m (raqún)
• Hindi: रैकून m (raikūn)
• Hungarian: mosómedve (hu)
• Icelandic: þvottabjörn (is) m
• Ido: ratono (io)
• Indonesian: rakun
• Irish: racún m
• Italian: procione (it) m, orsetto lavatore m
• Japanese: アライグマ (ja) (araiguma), 洗熊 (ja) (araiguma)
• K'iche': kʼas
• Kansa: mikká
• Kazakh: жанат (janat)
• Klamath-Modoc: wacgin'a
• Koasati: sawi
• Korean: 아메리카너구리 (Amerikaneoguri), 미국너구리 (ko) (Migungneoguri)
• Kumyk: хас (xas)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ڕاکوون (rakûn)

• Kyrgyz: жанат (ky) (janat)
• Lakota: wičhítegleǧa, wičhá
• Lao: ໜູລ້າງນ້ຳ (nū lāng nam), ໝີລ້າງນ້ຳ (mī lāng nam), ແລກຄູນ (lǣk khūn)
• Latvian: jenots
• Lithuanian: meškėnas
• Louisiana Creole French: shawi
• Lutshootseed: bəlúps
• Luxembourgish: Wäschbier (lb) m
• Macedonian: раку́н m (rakún)
• Malay: rakun
• Mi'kmaq: amaljugwej anim, amaljigwej anim
• Miskito: suksuk
• Mohawk: atí:ron
• Montana Salish: mhuyeʔ
• Munsee: é·span
• Navajo: tábąąh mąʼii
• Nez Perce: k'ayk'áyoc
• Norwegian: vaskebjørn m
• Occitan: raton lavaire (oc) m
• Ojibwe: ᐁᐦᓯᐸᓐ anim (esiban)
• Osage: mį́hkaa
• Pawnee: icat
• Persian: راکون (fa) (râkon)
• Polish: szop (pl) m anim
• Portuguese: guaxinim m
• Powhatan: ärähkun
• Quechua: chincha mayuatu
• Romanian: raton (ro) m, ursuleț spălător (ro) m
• Russian: ено́т (ru) m (jenót)
• Scottish Gaelic: mathan-nighe m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ракун m

  Roman: rakun (sh) m

• Slovak: mýval m
• Slovene: rakun (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: šup m

  Upper Sorbian: šup m

• Southern Ohlone: SaSran
• Spanish: mapache (es) m, oso lavador (es) m, zorra manglera f, gato manglatero m, mapachín (es) m
• Squamish: mélalus
• Swedish: tvättbjörn (sv) c
• Tagalog: mapatse
• Thai: แร็กคูน (rɛ́k-kuun)
• Turkish: rakun (tr)
• Turkmen: ýanot
• Ukrainian: єно́т m (jenót)
• Unami: nahënëm
• Uzbek: rakun
• Vietnamese: gấu mèo (vi), gấu trúc Mỹ
• Volapük: räkun
• Welsh: racŵn m
• Wintu: qarilit
• Yiddish: שאָפּ m (shop), יענאָט m (yenot)
• Yucatec Maya: kʼuluʼ

any mammal of the genus Procyon

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: ջրարջ (hy) (ǰrarǰ)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Esperanto: (member of genus) prociono
• Finnish: pesukarhu (fi)
• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Swedish: tvättbjörn (sv) c

any mammal of the subfamily Procyoninae

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Esperanto: (member of subfamily) procioneno
• Finnish: supimainen
• French: (member of subfamily) procyoniné m
• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Swedish: halvbjörn (sv) c

any mammal of the family Procyonidae

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Esperanto: (member of family) procionedo (eo)
• Finnish: puolikarhu
• French: (member of family) procyonidé (fr) m
• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Swedish: halvbjörn (sv)

Anagrams

• carcoon