Where does “狸寝入り” come from?

狸寝入り (Japanese) comes from Japanese 寝, from Middle Chinese 寢.

狸寝入り (Japanese): feigning sleep; playing possum

Definitions

  1. feigning sleep; playing possum

Ancestry of “狸寝入り”, step by step

狸寝入り traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 寝

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese寝sleep, sleeping; to sleep
2Middle Chinese寢—

via Japanese 入る

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese入るto enter, go into, get into; to arrive; to join a...
2Old Japaneseいる—

via Japanese 狸

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese狸a raccoon dog, "Nyctereutes procyonoides"; a...
Every word from Middle Chinese 寢 →Every word from Japanese 寝 →