panda
Americannoun
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Also called giant panda. a white-and-black, bearlike mammal, Ailuropoda melanoleuca, now rare and restricted to forest areas of central China containing stands of bamboo, on which it mainly subsists: formerly placed with the raccoon family but now classified as a bear subfamily, Ailuropodinae, or as the sole member of a separate family, Ailuropodidae, which diverged from an ancestral bear lineage.
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Also called lesser panda. a reddish-brown, raccoonlike mammal, Ailurus fulgens, of mountain forests in the Himalayas and adjacent eastern Asia, subsisting mainly on bamboo and other vegetation, fruits, and insects, and reduced in numbers by collectors: now considered unrelated to the giant panda and usually classified as the sole member of an Old World raccoon subfamily, Ailurinae, which diverged from an ancestral lineage that also gave rise to the New World raccoons.
noun
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Also called: giant panda. a large black-and-white herbivorous bearlike mammal, Ailuropoda melanoleuca, related to the raccoons and inhabiting the high mountain bamboo forests of China: family Procyonidae
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a closely related smaller animal resembling a raccoon, Ailurus fulgens, of the mountain forests of S Asia, having a reddish-brown coat and ringed tail
Etymology
Origin of panda
1825–35; < French (Cuvier), a name for the lesser panda, perhaps < a Tibeto-Burman language of the southeastern Himalayas
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.
Dario wore a panda outfit to their costume party-themed wedding.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 28, 2026
China, in turn, exercised its "panda diplomacy" by sending two bears to Tokyo.
From Barron's • Jan. 30, 2026
Based on their estimates, the researchers believe Salwasiren weighed around 250 pounds, similar to the weight of an adult panda or a heavyweight boxer.
From Science Daily • Dec. 12, 2025
The zoo is covered by the Corstorphine FCZ this year, but in 2024 "frightening noises" caused by fireworks exploding nearby were cited as the cause of death for three-month-old red panda kit Roxie.
From BBC • Nov. 4, 2025
“Hawk dude,” the panda said, having returned just below them.
From "Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody" by Patrick Ness
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.
