狸

See also: 貍

狸 U+72F8, 狸 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-72F8 ← 狷 [U+72F7] CJK Unified Ideographs 狹 → [U+72F9]

Translingual

Han character

狸 (Kangxi radical 94, 犬+7, 10 strokes, cangjie input 大竹田土 (KHWG), four-corner 4621₄, composition ⿰犭里)

Derived characters

• 𭉭, 䔆, 𮦦, 𩮞, 𢟆

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 711, character 29
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 20427
• Dae Jaweon: page 1123, character 27
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1348, character 11
• Unihan data for U+72F8

Chinese

trad.		狸/貍*
simp.		狸

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (里) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
埋	*mrɯː
霾	*mrɯː
薶	*mrɯː
榸	*ʔr'ɯː
厘	*rɯ
狸	*rɯ
貍	*p·rɯ
梩	*rɯ
艃	*rɯ
里	*rɯʔ
理	*rɯʔ
鯉	*rɯʔ
俚	*rɯʔ
悝	*rɯʔ, *km̥ʰlɯː
娌	*rɯʔ
裏	*rɯʔ
荲	*r̥ʰɯɡ, *l̥ʰuɡ, *hluɡ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *rɯ) : semantic 犬 (“dog”) + phonetic 里 (OC *rɯʔ). Originally an unorthodox variant (俗字) of the character 貍 (lí).

Etymology

Uncertain. Here some proposals:

• Fangyan [2] and Guo Pu consider it to be one among many dialectal words for 貔 (OC *bi), which however is a different word (Schuessler, 2007) (see there).

• Zhao & Huang (1998) (apud Schuessler, 2007) connects it to Hmong pli ~ ple "cat".

• Schuessler (2007) minimally reconstructs 貍 (OC *rə) from *pʰrə ~ *pʰə-rə and proposes possible Sino-Tibetan etymology and compares it to Mru pri (“a kind of leopard”) (see also Löffler, 1966); he also sees potential cognacy with Tibetan ཞི་མི (zhi mi), ཞིམ་བུ (zhim bu), ཞུམ་བུ (zhum bu) - all meaning "cat" - if those were from *ryi-mi; additionally, པི་ཤི (pi shi, “cat”) (< *zhi?) is possibly equivalent to Old Chinese dialectal forms with initial *pʰ- (e.g. 𧳏 (pī) < LHC *pʰiə < OC *pʰrə or 𧳏貍／𧳏狸 (pīlí)); in that case, the original Chinese word might have been a compound: 貔狸 "(large) cat and small cat"; even so, see 貔 (OC *bi) for possible Indic influence on Tibetan byi ~ pi (ibid.).

• STEDT reconstructs Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-(l/r)e(y/ŋ) (“squirrel, weasel”) and proposes cognacy with 鼪 (OC *sreŋ, *sreŋs), Tibetan སྲེ་མོང (sre mong, “weasel”), Burmese ရှဉ့် (hrany., “squirrel”), etc.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): lí (li²)

  (Zhuyin): ㄌㄧˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): lei⁴
• Hakka

  (Sixian, PFS): lì

  (Meixian, Guangdong): li²

• Jin (Wiktionary): li¹
• Northern Min (KCR): lǐ / sâ̤
• Eastern Min (BUC): lì
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): lî

  (Teochew, Peng'im): li⁵ / lai⁵

• Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁶li
• Xiang (Changsha, Wiktionary): li²

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: lí
    • Zhuyin: ㄌㄧˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: lí
    • Wade–Giles: li²
    • Yale: lí
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: li
    • Palladius: ли (li)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /li³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: lei⁴
    • Yale: lèih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: lei⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: léi⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /lei̯²¹/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: lì
    • Hakka Romanization System: li^ˇ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: li²
    • Sinological IPA: /li¹¹/
  • (Meixian)
    • Guangdong: li²
    • Sinological IPA: /li¹¹/
• Jin
  • (Taiyuan)⁺
    • Wiktionary: li¹
    • Sinological IPA (old-style): /li¹¹/
• Northern Min
  • (Jian'ou)
    • Kienning Colloquial Romanized: lǐ / sâ̤
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /li²¹/, /sɛ³³/

Note:

• lǐ - literary;
• sâ̤ - vernacular.

• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: lì
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /l̃i⁵³/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lî
    • Tâi-lô: lî
    • Phofsit Daibuun: lii
    • IPA (Xiamen): /li²⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /li²⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /li¹³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /li²⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /li²³/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: li⁵ / lai⁵
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: lî / lâi
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /li⁵⁵/, /lai⁵⁵/

Note:

• li5 - literary;
• lai5 - vernacular.

• Wu
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ⁶li
    • MiniDict: li^去
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ³li
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /li²³/
• Xiang
  • (Changsha)
    • Wiktionary: li²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /li¹³/

---

• Middle Chinese: li

Rime
Character	狸
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	來 (37)
Final (韻)	之 (19)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	里之切
Baxter	li
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/lɨ/
Pan Wuyun	/lɨ/
Shao Rongfen	/lie/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/lɨ/
Li Rong	/liə/
Wang Li	/lĭə/
Bernhard Karlgren	/li/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	lí
Expected Cantonese Reflex	lei4

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[r]ə/, /*p.rə/

  (Zhengzhang): /*rɯ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	狸	狸
Reading #	1/2	2/2
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	lí	lí
Middle Chinese	‹ li ›	‹ li ›
Old Chinese	/*[r]ə/	/*p.rə/
English	𧳏狸 *pə.[r]ə kind of wild cat (Jiāngnán pron. ap. Guō Pú, ca. 300 CE)	kind of wild cat (pron. west of the Hángǔ pass, ap. Fāngyán)
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	狸
Reading #	1/1
No.	7822
Phonetic component	里
Rime group	之
Rime subdivision	0
Corresponding MC rime	釐
Old Chinese	/*rɯ/
Notes	俗貍字

Definitions

狸

1. leopard cat

   • 子獨不見狸狌乎？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     子独不见狸狌乎？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Zhuangzi, circa 3^rd – 2^nd centuries BCE

     Zǐ dú bù jiàn lí shēng hū? [Pinyin]

     Have you not seen a wildcat or a weasel?

2. raccoon dog
3. (obsolete) cat

Compounds

• 以狸餌鼠 / 以狸饵鼠
• 果子狸 (guǒzilí)
• 河狸 (hélí)
• 海狸 (hǎilí)
• 海狸鼠
• 狐狸
• 狐狸尾巴
• 狐狸狗
• 狐狸精 (húlijīng)
• 狸子 (lízi)
• 狸狌 (líshēng)
• 狸藻 (lízǎo)
• 狸貓 / 狸猫 (límāo)
• 發屋求狸 / 发屋求狸
• 老狐狸
• 花狸狐哨
• 花面狸
• 野狐狸

 

Japanese

Kanji

狸

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. raccoon dog
2. wild cat

Readings

• Go-on: り (ri)
• Kan-on: り (ri)
• Kun: たぬき (tanuki, 狸)

Compounds

Compounds

• 海(かい)狸(り) (kairi)
• 屈狸(クズリ) (kuzuri)
• 狐狸(こり) (kori)
• 狐狗狸(こっくり) (kokkuri)

Etymology 1

狸 (tanuki): a raccoon dog

Kanji in this term
狸
たぬき Hyōgai
kun'yomi

Alternative spelling
貍

According to one theory, derived from 手貫 (tanuki, “arm glove, gauntlet”), which raccoon dog hide was sometimes used for.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) たぬき [táꜜnùkì] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [ta̠nɯ̟kʲi]

Noun

狸(たぬき) or 狸(タヌキ) • (tanuki) 

1. a raccoon dog, Nyctereutes procyonoides

   Synonyms: マミ (mami), 狢 (mujina)

   • 938, Minamoto no Shitagō, Wamyō Ruijushō:

     狸 兼名苑云狸［音𨤲和名太奴木］摶鳥為粮者也

     Raccoon dog: According to Jian Ming Yuan (兼名苑), raccoon dogs [read as 𨤲 (ri), native Japanese 太奴木 (tanuki)] always prey on birds.

   • 2020 March 21, Kazuki Nakashima, “Rabbit Town”, in BNA ビー・エヌ・エー [BNA], episode 2, spoken by Shirou Ogami (Yoshimasa Hosoya), Toho/Netflix:

     アライグマなら尻(しっ)尾(ぽ)にシマがある。どう見(み)でもタヌキだ。

     Araiguma nara shippo ni shima ga aru. Dō mi demo tanuki da.

     If you're a raccoon, you'd have stripes on your tail. No matter how you look at it, you're a raccoon dog.

2. (figurative) a person who pretends to be good but in fact is cunning (compare English sly fox)
   • 1717, Kokusen'ya gonichi gassen (jōruri), volume 3

     やいやい、其処(そこ)な狸(たぬき)め

     yai yai, soko na tanuki me

     Hey there, you sly dog!

3. Short for 狸饂飩 (tanuki-udon) and 狸蕎麦 (tanuki-soba): styles of various noodle dishes
4. (rare) Short for 狸寝入り (tanuki neiri): pretending to be asleep

   狸(たぬき)を決(き)め込(こ)む ― tanuki o kimekomu ― pretend to be a raccoon dog → feign sleep

5. (rare, obsolete) Short for 狸汁 (tanuki-jiru): a soup made from tanuki meat mixed with daikon, burdock root, etc.

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 タヌキ.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 狸(タヌキ)菖蒲(アヤメ) (tanuki ayame)
• 狸(たぬき)饂飩(うどん) (tanuki-udon)
• 狸(たぬき)親(おや)父(じ) (tanuki oyaji)
• 狸(たぬき)顔(がお) (tanukigao)
• 狸(たぬき)狩(が)り (tanukigari)
• 狸(たぬき)小(こう)路(じ) (Tanuki Kōji)
• 狸(たぬき)爺(じじい) (tanukijijī)
• 狸(たぬき)汁(じる) (tanuki-jiru)
• 狸(たぬき)蕎(そ)麦(ば) (tanuki-soba)
• 狸(たぬき)憑(つ)き (tanukitsuki)
• 狸(たぬき)寝(ね) (tanukine)
• 狸(たぬき)寝入(ねい)り (tanuki neiri)
• 狸(たぬき)の燭(しょく)台(だい) (tanuki no shokudai)
• 狸(たぬき)の茶(ちゃ)袋(ぶくろ) (tanuki no chabukuro)
• 狸(たぬき)婆(ばばあ) (tanukibabā)
• 狸(たぬき)囃(ばや)子(し) (tanukibayashi)
• 狸(たぬき)笛(ぶえ) (tanukibue)
• 狸(たぬき)掘(ぼ)り (tanukibori)
• 狸(タヌキ)豆(マメ) (tanukimame)
• 狸(タヌキ)藻(モ) (tanukimo)
• 狸(タヌキ)蘭(ラン) (tanukiran)
• 飴(あめ)細(ざい)工(く)の狸(たぬき) (amezaiku no tanuki)
• 射(い)狸(だぬき) (Idanuki)
• 岩(いわ)狸(だぬき) (iwadanuki)
• 海(うみ)狸(だぬき) (umidanuki)
• 面(おも)白(しろ)狸(だぬき) (omoshiro-danuki)
• 隠(かくし)狸(だぬき) (Kakushidanuki)
• 狐(きつね)と狸(たぬき) (kitsune to tanuki)
• 初(はつ)午(うま)の狸(たぬき) (hatsūma no tanuki)
• 古(ふる)狸(だぬき) (furudanuki)
• 本(ホン)土(ド)狸(タヌキ) (hondo tanuki)
• 豆(まめ)狸(だぬき) (mamedanuki)
• 貒(み)狸(だぬき) (midanuki)

Idioms

• 狸(たぬき)の睾(きん)丸(たま)八(はち)畳(じょう)敷(じき) (tanuki no kintama hachijōjiki)
• 同(おな)じ穴(あな)の狸(たぬき) (onaji ana no tanuki)
• 取(と)らぬ狸(たぬき)の皮(かわ)算(ざん)用(よう) (toranu tanuki no kawazan'yō)

Proverbs

Proverbs

• 狸(たぬき)の燭(しょく)台(だい) (tanuki no shokudai)
• 狸(たぬき)の腹(はら)鼓(つづみ) (tanuki no haratsuzumi)
• 狐(きつね)と狸(たぬき)の化(ば)かし合(あ)い (kitsune to tanuki no bakashi ai)
• 豺(さい)狼(ろう)路(みち)に当(あ)たれり，安(いずく)んぞ狐狸(こり)を問(と)わん (sairō michi ni atareri, izukunzo kori o towan)
• 鹿(しか)待(ま)つ所(ところ)の狸(たぬき) (shika matsu tokoro no tanuki)

Descendants

• → English: tanuki, tanooki

See also

• 穴(アナ)熊(グマ) (anaguma, “badger”)
• 洗(アライ)熊(グマ) (araiguma, “raccoon”)
• 犬(イヌ) (inu, “dog”)
• 狐(キツネ) (kitsune, “fox”)
• 猫(ネコ) (neko, “cat”)

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
狸
たたけ Hyōgai
irregular

Alternative spelling
狸毛

⟨tatake₂⟩ → */tatakəɨ/ → /tatake/

From Old Japanese.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ta̠ta̠ke̞]

Noun

狸(たたけ) or 狸(たたげ) • (tatake or tatage) 

1. (archaic, obsolete) a raccoon dog
   • 794, Shin'yaku Kegonkyō Ongi Shiki:

     猫狸 [...] ニ又漢云野貍、倭言上尼古、下多〻既

     Cat and raccoon dog, [...] both of them are called 野貍 (yari) in Chinese; the former is called 尼古 (⟨neko₁⟩ → neko) while the latter is called 多〻既 (⟨tatake₂⟩ → tatake) in Japanese.

2. (archaic, obsolete) the hair of a raccoon dog, used for making brushes
   • 1445, Ainōshō, published 1446:

     タゝゲノ筆(フデ)ナンド云(イフ)。タゝ毛(ゲ)トハ。タヌキノ毛歟(ケカ)。狸(タヌキ)ノ字(ジ)ヲ。タゝゲトヨム

     Tatage no fude nando iu. Tatage to wa, tanuki no ke ka. Tanuki no ji o, tatage to yomu

     This is a so-called brush [made] of tatage. Tatage [spelled by the character 毛 meaning "hair"] might mean the hair of a raccoon dog. The 狸 character for "raccoon dog" is read as tatage.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term
狸
たのき Hyōgai
irregular

Cognate with tanuki above.

Considered to be a result of irregular apophony in the medieval times.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ta̠no̞kʲi]

Noun

狸(たのき) • (tanoki) 

1. (dated, dialectal, Western Japan, chiefly Kansai) a raccoon dog
   • c. 1529, Mōgyūshō

     ししやたのきの様(やう)な人(ひと)でをり候(さうらう)ぞ

     Shishi ya tanoki no yō na hito de ori sōrō zo

     His personality is like a deer or raccoon dog, sir.

2. (dated, dialectal, Kansai) Short for 狸饂飩 (tanoki-udon) and 狸蕎麦 (tanoki-soba): styles of various noodle dishes

See also

• 狐(けつね) (ketsune, “fox”, Kansai)

Korean

Hanja

狸 • (ri>i) (hangeul 리>이, revised ri>i, McCune–Reischauer ri>i, Yale li>i)

1. (너구리 리, neoguri-): raccoon dog

Synonyms

• 山獺 (산달, sandal)

Okinawan

Kanji

狸

(Hyōgai kanji)

Readings

• Kun: たぬき (tanuki, 狸)

Etymology

Attested in the 沖縄語典 (Okinawa Goten, “Okinawan Dictionary”) as たぬき.

Noun

狸(たぬき) (tanuki) 

1. raccoon dog

Vietnamese

Han character

狸: Hán Nôm readings: li

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.