>>50279927That's a misconception. Those names are effectively grandfathered in from a period before taxonomy was as well explored as it is now. The "nezumi" is more akin to a suffix rather than saying "this is a mouse" now. Such is why the Year of the Rat image is such a clusterfuck because they tried to use the old meanings leading to the implications that beavers, shrews, pangolins and echidna are rats which is just incredibly off.
For another in-culture example, termites are referred to as "shiroari" or white ants when they're actually closer to cockroaches. And for an out of culture example, the Egyptian Goose is actually a duck and the Maned Wolf isn't actually related to wolves whatsoever but the names have existed for too long to be changed.
Tl;Dr: -nezumi doesn't mean it's a rat, it means that it's part of a group wrongly labeled as rats.
