Skip to content
Kotomora

狸

tanuki, raccoon

FrequencyTop 5,000Strokes10

Readings

On'yomi

  • リ
  • ライ

Kun'yomi

  • たぬき

Meaning

狸 centers on the tanuki, a specific animal often called a raccoon dog in English. The meaning extends loosely to raccoon due to visual similarity, but the core idea is the tanuki itself.

Most common words using 狸

20 of 24
  • 狸たぬき

    tanuki (Nyctereutes procyonoides); raccoon dog

  • 狐狸こり

    foxes and tanuki

  • 屈狸くずり

    wolverine (Gulo gulo); glutton; carcajou

  • 化け狸ばけだぬき

    supernatural tanuki (Japanese folklore)

  • 古狸ふるだぬき

    old badger; veteran; oldtimer; schemer; old fox

  • 同じ穴の狸おなじあなのたぬき

    (villains) of the same stripe; birds of a feather; raccoon dogs of the same hole

  • 岩狸いわだぬき

    hyrax

  • 捕らぬ狸の皮算用とらぬたぬきのかわざんよう

    counting one's chickens before they're hatched; counting raccoon dog skins before they have been caught

  • 海狸かいり

    beaver

  • 狐と狸の化かし合いきつねとたぬきのばかしあい

    two sly characters outfoxing each other; a fox and a raccoon dog fooling each other

  • 狐狗狸こっくり

    kokkuri; divination technique similar to table turning and planchette

  • 狐狗狸さんこっくりさん

    kokkuri; divination technique similar to table turning and planchette

  • 狐狸妖怪こりようかい

    tricksters; deceivers; fey creatures; monsters; goblins

  • 狸の腹鼓たぬきのはらつづみ

    patting the raccoon's belly (tesuji); tanuki drums his belly

  • 狸の金玉八畳敷きたぬきのきんたまはちじょうじき

    something spread out widely; something taking a lot of space; eight jō of a raccoon dog's scrotum

  • 狸囃子たぬきばやし

    tanuki drumming on their stomachs

  • 狸寝入りたぬきねいり

    feigning sleep

  • 狸汁たぬきじる

    tanuki soup; raccoon-dog soup

  • 狸爺たぬきじじい

    cunning old man

  • 狸菖蒲たぬきおやめ

    wooly frogsmouth (Philydrum lanuginosum); wooly waterlily

Explore all words using 狸 →

Study

Etymology

狸 combines the animal radical 犭 with 里, which likely contributes the sound. The character specifically denotes the tanuki.

Meaning mnemonic

The animal radical 犭 beside 里 (village) suggests a wild animal often seen near villages: the tanuki.

Reading mnemonic

For リ, imagine a tanuki re-leasing a fish back into the village stream: re- -> リ, and the tanuki is the animal doing it.