pesukarhu
Finnish
Etymology
Compound of pesu (“washing”) + karhu (“bear”); calque of Swedish tvättbjörn and German Waschbär (“raccoon”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈpesuˌkɑrhu/, [ˈpe̞s̠uˌkɑrhu]
- Rhymes: -ɑrhu
- Syllabification(key): pe‧su‧kar‧hu
Noun
pesukarhu
- raccoon, Procyon lotor
- raccoon (any species in the genus Procyon)
Usage notes
A working group for naming mammals proposed in 2008 that the raccoon be named supi in Finnish because a) all other species in the genus have supi in their name (although the genus is called pesukarhut), b) the raccoon is not a karhu (“bear”), and c) the term supi has been used for raccoon fur in Finland and for the animal by Finnish Americans. Opponents claim that this proposed change would be confusing because the term pesukarhu is unambiguous and raccoon dog is supikoira in Finnish and is often called supi in colloquial speech. As a result, supi has not gained popularity as the Finnish name for the raccoon.
Declension
| Inflection of pesukarhu (Kotus type 1/valo, no gradation) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | pesukarhu | pesukarhut | |
| genitive | pesukarhun | pesukarhujen | |
| partitive | pesukarhua | pesukarhuja | |
| illative | pesukarhuun | pesukarhuihin | |
| singular | plural | ||
| nominative | pesukarhu | pesukarhut | |
| accusative | nom. | pesukarhu | pesukarhut |
| gen. | pesukarhun | ||
| genitive | pesukarhun | pesukarhujen | |
| partitive | pesukarhua | pesukarhuja | |
| inessive | pesukarhussa | pesukarhuissa | |
| elative | pesukarhusta | pesukarhuista | |
| illative | pesukarhuun | pesukarhuihin | |
| adessive | pesukarhulla | pesukarhuilla | |
| ablative | pesukarhulta | pesukarhuilta | |
| allative | pesukarhulle | pesukarhuille | |
| essive | pesukarhuna | pesukarhuina | |
| translative | pesukarhuksi | pesukarhuiksi | |
| instructive | — | pesukarhuin | |
| abessive | pesukarhutta | pesukarhuitta | |
| comitative | — | pesukarhuineen | |
| Possessive forms of pesukarhu (type valo) | ||
|---|---|---|
| possessor | singular | plural |
| 1st person | pesukarhuni | pesukarhumme |
| 2nd person | pesukarhusi | pesukarhunne |
| 3rd person | pesukarhunsa | |
Synonyms
- supi (disputed, see "Usage notes" above)