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.
Among other items is a display showing the 13 species of flora and fauna named after Obama.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 4, 2026
The government insists it has met all "green" requirements and has pledged to protect Great Nicobar's peoples, communities, as well as its unique flora and fauna, by establishing protected zones.
From Barron's • May 18, 2026
A tiny parasitic wasp - the Attenboroughnculus tau - was also named in his honour, although it is far from his first fauna namesake.
From BBC • May 9, 2026
In the 1960s, Molina and his friends began calling their neighborhood “Frog Town” after the local fauna in the nearby L.A.
From Los Angeles Times • May 4, 2026
Many of the entries in the brief, perplexing diary recovered with the body were terse observations of flora and fauna, which fueled speculation that McCandless was a field biologist.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
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.
