What does "kitsune" mean?

A Japanese fox spirit, often but not exclusively female, said to have powers such as shape-shifting, and whose power is symbolized by increase in number of tails.

How do you pronounce "kitsune"?

Pronounced //kɪtˈsuː.neɪ//.

Kitsune

//kɪtˈsuː.neɪ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
A Japanese fox spirit, often but not exclusively female, said to have powers such as shape-shifting, and whose power is symbolized by increase in number of tails. Japanese

Etymology

From Japanese 狐 (kitsune, “fox”).

Related phrases

kitsune udon

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.