Raccoon (or racoon), a name borne by the typical representative of a group of American arboreal placental mammals belonging to the order Carnivora (q.v.) and the family Procyonidae. The word is a corruption of the North-American Indian “arrathkune” or “arathcone.” The Fr. raton or raton laveur, Ger. Waschbär, and other European names are derived from a curious habit the raccoon has of dipping or washing its food in water before eating it.

Encyclopædia Britannica eleventh edition, Volume 22. 1911.