tanuki
nounUK /təˈnʊkɪ/ · US /tɑˈnuki/
Etymology Borrowed from Japanese 狸(たぬき) (tanuki, “raccoon dog”).
1
A raccoon dog, Nyctereutes viverrinus.
- At my onboarding, I was told that one of GitHub's employees identified as a tanuki, a Japanese raccoon dog—this was fine.2023 May 28, Nadia Asparouhova, “Remembering GitHub's Office, a Monument to Tech Culture”, in Wired, →ISSN:
2
Human sciences, Mysticism, Mythology, Philosophy, Sciences Japanese A folkloric figure in the form of a tanuki, regarded as a shapeshifter and renowned for its enormous scrotum and testicles.
3
The joining of a living bonsai tree to a piece of dead wood for aesthetic effect.