fauna
Americannoun
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the animals of a given region or period considered as a whole.
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a treatise on the animals of a given region or period.
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(initial capital letter) Bona Dea.
noun
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all the animal life of a given place or time, esp when distinguished from the plant life (flora)
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a descriptive list of such animals
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of fauna
1765–75; < New Latin, special use of Latin Fauna, a feminine counterpart to Faunus; cf. Flora
Explanation
When you go on a nature walk in a school setting, your teacher might tell you to observe the flora and fauna in the woods. Flora is plant life; fauna refers to animals. Fauna derives from the name of a Roman goddess, but the handiest way to remember the difference between flora and fauna is that flora sounds like flowers, which are part of the plant world; fauna, however, sounds like "fawn," and fawns are part of the animal kingdom.
Vocabulary lists containing fauna
Physical Geography - Introductory
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Physical Geography - Middle School
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "F"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Most international frameworks governing wildlife trade, including the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, were designed primarily to protect species from overexploitation, according to Gore.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026
Both species, which were smuggled in large quantities in the 1990s, are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
From BBC • Aug. 12, 2025
“Regulation of international trade has now begun, with the protection of over 100 shark species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora,” he says.
From National Geographic • Jan. 11, 2024
Each species has been protected since 1998 under CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
From Science Daily • Nov. 20, 2023
The one thing that made it bearable was that Granddaddy took pity on my wretched state and brought me one of his books, Fascinating Flora and Fauna of the Antipodes.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
