The raccoon (Procyon lotor), sometimes spelled as racoon, also known as the common raccoon, North American raccoon, northern raccoon and colloquially as coon, is a medium-sized mammal native to North America. As a result of escapes and deliberate introductions in the mid-20th century, raccoons are now also distributed across the European mainland, the Caucasus region and Japan. Their original habitats are deciduous and mixed forests, but due to their adaptability they have extended their range to mountainous areas, coastal marshes, and even urban areas, where some homeowners consider them pests.

The word raccoon was adopted into English from the native Powhatan term, as used in the  Virginia Colony. It was recorded on Captain John Smith's list of Powhatan words as Aroughcun, and on that of William Strachey as Arathkone. It has also been identified as a Proto-Algonquian root *ahrah-koon-em, meaning "[the] one who rubs, scrubs and scratches with its hands".

Similarly, Spanish colonists adopted the Spanish word mapache from the Nahuatl mapachitli of the Aztecs, meaning "[the] one who takes everything in its hands". In many languages, the raccoon is named for its characteristic dousing behavior in conjunction with that language's term for bear, for example Waschbär in German, orsetto lavatore in Italian and araiguma (アライグマ) in Japanese. In French, the washing behavior is combined with that language's term for rat, or raton laveur.

The colloquial abbreviation coon is used in words like coonskin for fur clothing and in phrases like old coon as a self-designation of trappers. However, the clipped form is also in use as an ethnic slur. The raccoon's scientific name, Procyon lotor, is neo-Latin, meaning "before-dog washer," with lotor Latin for "washer" and Procyon Latinized Greek from προ-, "before," and κύων, "dog."

Based on fossil evidence from France and Germany, the first known members of the family Procyonidae lived in Europe in the late Oligocene about 25 million years ago. Similar tooth and skull structures suggest that procyonids and weasels share a common ancestor, but molecular analysis indicates a closer relationship between raccoons and bears. After crossing the Bering Strait at least six million years later, the center of the then-existing species' distribution was probably in Central America. Coatis (Nasua and Nasuella) and raccoons (Procyon) may both be descended from a species in the genus Paranasua from between 5.2 and 6.0 mya. This assumption, based on morphological comparisons of fossils, conflicts with a 2006 genetic analysis which suggests that raccoons are more closely related to ringtails. Unlike other procyonids, such as the crab-eating raccoon (Procyon cancrivorus), the ancestors of the common raccoon left tropical and subtropical areas and migrated farther north about 2.5 mya, a migration that has been confirmed by the discovery of fossils in the Great Plains dating back to the middle of the Pliocene.

 아메리카너구리(문화어: 개곰)는 식육목 아메리카너구리과의 포유동물이며 학명은 Procyon lotor 이다. 너구리와 비슷하게 생겼으며 몸길이 60-110cm이고, 몸무게는 3.5-8kg이다. 수컷이 암컷보다 크다. 털은 길고 거칠며 회색이다. 코가 뾰족하고, 손가락이 길며 유연하다. 발톱은 강하고 날카로워서 나무에 기어오를 수 있다.

아메리카너구리는 모두 6종이 있는데 주요한 종은 참아메리카너구리와 게먹는아메리카너구리이다. 참아메리카너구리는 캐나다·미국·중앙아메리카에서 살고, 게먹는아메리카너구리는 코스타리카·파나마·남아메리카에서 산다.

혼자 살거나 작은 가족 집단으로 생활하며, 각자 텃세권이 있다. 밤에 사냥하고 낮에는 보금자리에서 지낸다. 먹이는 게·가재·개구리·물고기·도토리·새알·옥수수·과실·견과류·씨·작은 설치류 등으로 다양하다. 먹이를 먹기 전에 먹이를 물에 씻어 먹는 습성이 있다.

일 년에 한 번 1월이나 2월에 짝짓기를 하며 짝짓기 후 약 9주가 지나면, 1-8마리의 새끼를 낳는다. 약 20일이 지나면 새끼는 눈을 뜨는데, 암컷은 조심스럽게 새끼를 돌보고 수컷이 가까이 오지 못하게 한다. 새끼는 보금자리에서 8-10주 동안 지낸 후에 어미가 먹이를 찾으러 갈 때 따라 나선다. 새끼와 어미는 1년 동안 같이 지낸다.