leopard

American  

[lep-erd] / ˈlɛp ərd /

noun

leopards plural

1. a large, spotted Asian or African carnivore, Panthera pardus, of the cat family, usually tawny with black markings; the Old World panther: all leopard populations are threatened or endangered.

2. the fur or pelt of this animal.

3. any of various related cats resembling this animal.

4. Heraldry. a lion represented from the side as walking, usually with one forepaw raised, and looking toward the spectator.

5. Numismatics.

   1. an Anglo-Gallic gold coin issued by Edward III, equal to half a florin, bearing the figure of a leopard.

   2. a silver Anglo-Gallic coin issued by Henry V.

6. Military. Leopard, a 42-ton (38-metric ton) West German tank with a 105 mm gun.

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leopard British  

/ ˈlɛpəd /

noun

1. Also called: panther.  a large feline mammal, Panthera pardus, of forests of Africa and Asia, usually having a tawny yellow coat with black rosette-like spots

2. any of several similar felines, such as the snow leopard and cheetah

3. a feline, Neofelis nebulosa, of SE Asia and Indonesia with a yellowish-brown coat marked with darker spots and blotches

4. heraldry a stylized leopard, painted as a lion with the face turned towards the front

5. the pelt of a leopard

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• leopardess
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• leopards
  plural

Etymology

Origin of leopard

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English leopard, labarde, lebarde, from Old French leopard, lebard, leupard, from Late Latin leōpardus, from Greek leópardos, syncopated variant of leontópardos, equivalent to leonto- (stem of léōn ) + párdos; see origin at lion, pard ¹

Explanation

A leopard is a large feline, a very distant relative of the sweet kitty purring on your lap. A member of the panther family, the leopard is extinct in some regions and considered vulnerable in others. Leopards look similar to jaguars; they both have distinctive rose-shaped markings that act as camouflage, though leopards are slightly smaller and lighter. In rare cases when a leopard's melanin makes it appear totally black, it's called a black panther. The name of this large cat comes from an ancient belief that it was half lion and half panther — the Greek root leopardos means "lion-panther."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

leopard leopards

Afterwards, the leopard hid near the counter so both employees managed to escape.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

These differences made sense given that the environment they live in has much smaller, more sparsely distributed prey than other leopard habitats.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 24, 2026

A leopard sighting was reported to Dyfed-Powys Police in Cwmtwrch, Swansea, on 16 January 2023, when the reporter saw a "leopard with spots walking around the garden when their dog was let out".

From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026

As the smooth highway north of Seville stretched into the vastness of pastoral Extremadura, the chances of finding a lynx, which remains rarer than the snow leopard or the Bengal tiger, felt impossibly small.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 30, 2026

The leopard must have dragged it into a tree, she thought.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer

It follows four rival families of lions, leopards, hyenas and wild dogs as they compete for dominance, with all the shifting alliances, betrayals and power struggles of a prestige drama.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

This is because they’ve been isolated from other leopards for a long time and have adapted to one region.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 24, 2026

We also wanted to find out why the leopards of the Cape are smaller in size.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 24, 2026

More recently, leopard numbers fell sharply in the 1800s and 1900s, likely due to human hunting, habitat loss, and bounty systems that encouraged farmers to kill leopards.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 24, 2026

Dusk was when the leopards came out to hunt.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer

Related Words

• cheetah
• panther