Raccoon definition

ră-ko͝on
raccoons racoon racoons
See word origin
Frequency:
Any of various similar or related animals.
noun
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Its fur.
noun
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An omnivorous mammal (Procyon lotor) native to the Americas and introduced elsewhere, having grayish-brown fur, black masklike facial markings, and a black-ringed bushy tail.
noun
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The fur of this mammal.
noun
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Any of a genus (Procyon, family Procyonidae) of small, tree-climbing, American carnivores, active largely at night and characterized by long, yellowish-gray fur, black, masklike markings across the eyes, and a long, black-ringed tail.
noun
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A nocturnal omnivore 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.
noun
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Any mammal of the genus Procyon.
noun
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Any mammal of the subfamily Procyoninae, a procyonine.
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Any mammal of the family Procyonidae, a procyonid.
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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
raccoon
Plural:
raccoons

Origin of raccoon

  • Of Virginia Algonquian origin

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From arocoun (1608), from Powhatan ärähkun, from ärähkunÄ›m (“he scratches with his hands").

    From Wiktionary

Raccoon Sentence Examples

  • The fur of the skin itself is something like a dark silky raccoon, but is not as attractive as the tails.

  • A few fur-bearing animals, the mink, beaver and raccoon, still remain.

  • Raccoon skins are also frequently unhaired, and if the underwool is of good quality the effect is similar to beaver.

  • Among the mammals are the opossum, raccoon, star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata), grey fox and fox squirrel.

  • Besides these there are many useful, though commonplace, fur-bearing animals like mink, musquash, skunk, raccoon, opossum, hamster, rabbit, hares and moles, that thrive by depredations upon cultivated land.

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Words near raccoon in the Dictionary