>>42304
>Spanish colonists adopted the Spanish word mapache from the Nahuatl mapachtli of the Aztecs, meaning "[the] one who takes everything in its hands".[11] In many languages, the raccoon is named for its characteristic dousing behavior in conjunction with that language's term for bear, for example Waschbär ('wash-bear') in German, Huan Xiong (浣熊 'wash-bear') in Chinese, dvivón róchetz (דביבון רוחץ 'washing-bear[dim]') in Hebrew, orsetto lavatore ('little washer bear') in Italian, and araiguma (洗熊 (あらいぐま) 'washing-bear') in Japanese. Alternatively, only the washing behavior might be referred to, as in Russian poloskun (полоскун, 'rinser').
interesting, a lot of languages call it "bear that rubs its hands together like it's washing it"