tanuki

plural tanukis · alternative tanooki

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

   Synonyms: mangut

2. Japanesehuman sciencesA 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.