cougar

American  

[koo-ger] / ˈku gər /

noun

plural

cougars,

plural

cougar

1. Also called mountain lion, panther, puma.  a large, tawny cat, Felis concolor, of North and South America: now greatly reduced in number and endangered in some areas.

2. Informal. an older woman who seeks sexual relationships with much younger men.

   He's in his twenties, but he prefers cougars in their forties and fifties to young women his own age.

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cougar British  

/ ˈkuːɡə /

noun

1. another name for puma

2. slang a woman in her 30s or 40s who actively pursues casual sexual relationships with young men

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Etymology

Origin of cougar

First recorded in 1765–75; from French couguar, from New Latin cuguacu ara, cuguacuarana, apparently a misrepresentation of either Guarani guaçu ara or Portuguese çuçuarana, suçuarana (from Tupi susuarana )

Explanation

A cougar is a type of large cat — male cougars can reach eight feet long. You may have seen a cougar in a nature program about the animals of North and South America. A cougar is a feline, but these cats are not tame house pets — they are dangerous wild animals. Found all the way from Canada to South America, cougars are also called pumas, mountain lions, panthers, and catamounts. The word cougar is also a slang term for an older woman who dates much younger men. Even when it is meant to be a compliment, like any stereotype, cougar has the potential to offend — best to avoid.

Example Sentences

Binder began his doctoral work at Oregon State in 2022 after spending nearly ten years monitoring cougars in Yellowstone through the Yellowstone Cougar Project.

From Science Daily • Mar. 3, 2026

“As demand increases and our lives become increasingly electrified, America needs to generate more electricity, not less,” said Kayla Blackford, a worker at Bear Run Mine in Cougar, Ind., during Wednesday’s event.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 11, 2026

From 1982 to 1991, Mellencamp changed his stage name —from John Cougar to John Cougar Mellencamp to, finally, John Mellencamp—exactly as often as the Hoosiers managed a winning season.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 16, 2026

South of Sequim on May 8, 2021, we caught a 2-year-old female cougar as part of the Olympic Cougar Project and fitted her with a GPS collar.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 20, 2024

Herky began to scream along with John Cougar Mellencamp.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston

Related Words

• mountain lion
• panther