Racoon or Raccoon: Which Is Correct?

One c or two? For the masked, ring-tailed mammal that raids bins across North America, the answer is two: raccoon. The single-c spelling racoon turns up often enough — in old books, in hasty typing, in search queries — that it deserves a proper answer rather than a dismissal. The dictionaries are clear: raccoon is the standard headword in Cambridge, Merriam-Webster, and Collins, while racoon survives only as a less common variant. In modern writing, raccoon is the spelling to use, and racoon will read as an error to most readers.

This article covers the standard spelling, the history that explains the double c, the pronunciation difference between British and American English, and the related words (including one shortened form best avoided) that surround this animal.

Racoon vs Raccoon at a Glance

What a Raccoon Is

Merriam-Webster defines raccoon as a small nocturnal carnivore (Procyon lotor) of North America that is chiefly grey, has a black mask and a bushy ringed tail, lives chiefly in trees, and eats a varied diet of small animals, fruits, and nuts. Cambridge’s definition matches: a small animal with grey fur and a black mask around its eyes, often found in North America. The same entry also covers the pelt of the animal, and by extension any of several related animals.

Raccoons are famous for two things: their dexterous front paws, which they use almost like hands to open containers and manipulate objects, and their adaptability. Originally forest animals, they have become fixtures of suburbs and cities across North America — and, through introduction, in parts of Europe and Asia — where their raids on bins and pet food have made them both a nuisance and a folk hero of urban wildlife. Their scientific name, Procyon lotor, means roughly “the washer before the dog” — lotor refers to the animal’s habit of dunking food in water, a behaviour that gave rise to the old belief that raccoons “wash” their food.

• A raccoon had tipped over the bins during the night.
• Raccoons are nocturnal, so you are most likely to see them after dark.
• The baby raccoon clung to its mother’s back as she climbed the tree.
• Do not feed the raccoons — they quickly learn where the food is.

Why Two Cs? A Short History

The double c looks arbitrary until you know where the word came from. Merriam-Webster traces raccoon to Virginia Algonquian raugroughcun (also recorded as arocoun), and gives its first known use in English as 1608 — very early in the story of English in North America, from the Jamestown settlement era. The original Algonquian word is usually translated as “he scratches with his hands,” a reference to those famously busy front paws.

Early English spellings of the borrowed word varied wildly — colonial writers were spelling by ear, and the word passed through forms with one c and two, with different vowels, before settling. By the nineteenth century the double-c form had won out in dictionaries and general usage, and that is where it has stayed. The single-c racoon is essentially a leftover from that unsettled period: it appears in older texts (Cambridge’s own corpus examples include nineteenth-century uses of racoon and racoons), and it persists today mainly because it is the spelling a writer produces when sounding the word out. But sounding it out is misleading — English double consonants very often do not correspond to a longer sound, and here the second c is purely a spelling convention, not a pronunciation instruction.

This also explains a useful general point: when a word’s spelling was fixed by dictionary convention rather than by sound, guessing from pronunciation will mislead you. Raccoon belongs with occur, recommend, and accommodate — words where the doubled letter has to be learned as a fact about the word, not derived from how it sounds.

Pronunciation: UK and US

British and American English differ in the first vowel of raccoon, though not in its spelling. In British English it is /rəˈkuːn/ — the first syllable reduced to a schwa (ruh-KOON). In American English it is /ræˈkuːn/ — the first syllable keeps the short a of cat (rak-KOON). In both varieties the stress falls on the second syllable, and the second syllable rhymes with moon and soon. The plural simply adds s: raccoons (/rəˈkuːnz/ or /ræˈkuːnz/). There is no vowel change, no consonant change — just the doubled c to remember.

The Shortened Form: A Word of Caution

Raccoon is sometimes clipped to coon in informal American speech. This shortened form is best avoided entirely in writing. Quite apart from being informal, coon is also a long-standing offensive slur for a Black person, and using it — even innocently, to mean the animal — risks serious offence and misunderstanding. There is no context in modern writing where coon for the animal is worth that risk: raccoon is short, clear, and unproblematic. The same caution applies to the old-fashioned term coonhound for the dog breed used to hunt raccoons, which survives as a breed name but should be used, if at all, only in that specific sense.

Related Words and Lookalikes

• Raccoon dog — a different animal entirely: an East Asian member of the dog family that looks like a raccoon but is not one. Cambridge notes the distinction explicitly. Do not shorten it to raccoon when you mean the dog.
• Raccoon eyes — informal, for the dark circles around someone’s eyes, by comparison with the animal’s mask. Harmless in casual writing, but informal.
• Coati — a relative in the raccoon family, found in Central and South America, with a long snout and a ringed tail. If you meet one in a text about the raccoon family, it is a cousin, not a synonym.
• Opossum — a different North American nocturnal mammal, often confused with raccoons by visitors but unrelated. Note the spelling: opossum, not possum (which is a different, Australian animal) — another case where the dictionary spelling has to be learned, not guessed.

Correct vs Incorrect

• ✅ A raccoon was sitting on the fence. (Standard spelling.)
• ❌ A racoon was sitting on the fence. (Variant spelling; avoid in modern writing.)
• ✅ Several raccoons live in the neighbourhood. (Plural: add s.)
• ✅ The raccoon’s mask makes it instantly recognisable. (Possessive singular.)
• ✅ The raccoons’ tracks led to the compost heap. (Possessive plural.)
• ✅ Raccoon dogs look like raccoons but belong to the dog family. (Distinct animal.)
• ❌ Do not use coon for the animal in modern writing. (Offensive slur as well as informal.)
• ✅ A baby raccoon is sometimes called a kit. (Like kittens — a nice parallel, though “baby raccoon” is commoner.)

Common Mistakes

Spelling it with one c. The core error, and an easy one: the word sounds as if it has one c, and the single-c form has genuine historical use behind it. But modern dictionaries, style guides, and usage all favour raccoon. If you remember one thing, remember the pair: two cs, two os.

Doubling the wrong letter. Some writers, having learned that a letter is doubled, double the o instead — raccooon — or double both. The word has exactly two cs and exactly two os: r-a-c-c-o-o-n. Saying it slowly as “rack-coon” helps some people lock the shape in.

Using “raccoon” for the raccoon dog. The two animals look alike, but they are different species from different families. In wildlife writing especially, keep them distinct: a raccoon dog is not a raccoon.

Treating “racoon” as equally acceptable. Variant spellings exist on a spectrum. Some, like organize/organise, are regional standards. Racoon is not in that category: it is a minority variant that most readers and editors will mark as wrong. When a variant is this lopsided, the safe choice is also the standard one.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it racoon or raccoon?

Raccoon — with two cs. It is the headword spelling in Cambridge, Merriam-Webster, and Collins. Racoon is a less common variant that appears in older texts but is not the modern standard.

How do you spell raccoon?

R-A-C-C-O-O-N. Two cs, two os. A useful memory aid: rack + coon — the animal that racks (ransacks) your bins, spelled with a double c like rack.

What is the plural of raccoon?

Raccoons — simply add s. There is no irregular plural, and the doubled c is kept in the plural.

How do you pronounce raccoon?

UK /rəˈkuːn/ (ruh-KOON), US /ræˈkuːn/ (rak-KOON). The stress is on the second syllable in both varieties.

Where does the word raccoon come from?

From Virginia Algonquian raugroughcun (also recorded as arocoun), meaning roughly “he scratches with his hands” — a reference to the animal’s dexterous paws. Merriam-Webster dates its first known English use to 1608.

Is “coon” short for raccoon?

It is a clipping of raccoon, but it is also an offensive racial slur, so it should not be used for the animal in modern writing. Use raccoon in full.

Is a raccoon dog a raccoon?

No. The raccoon dog is an East Asian member of the dog family that resembles a raccoon in appearance but is a different animal. The resemblance is in the name only.

The Takeaway

Two cs, two os, one standard spelling: raccoon. The single-c racoon is a genuine historical variant, not an invention — but history is not a style guide, and every modern dictionary puts raccoon first. Learn the shape of the word the way you learn the shape of the animal: masked face, ringed tail, and a double c right in the middle. Spell it that way every time, and the question never comes up again.