panda

[pan-duh]

noun

1. 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.

2. 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.

panda

/ ˈpændə /

noun

1. 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

2. 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

Word History and Origins

Origin of panda¹

1825–35; < French (Cuvier), a name for the lesser panda, perhaps < a Tibeto-Burman language of the southeastern Himalayas

Word History and Origins

Origin of panda¹

C19: via French from a native Nepalese word

Example Sentences

To the side lay a stuffed panda doll, dusty and discarded on what remained of a kitchen counter.

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The suspension of the broadcasts will disrupt viewers peek at the zoo's pandas, lions, elephants and naked mole rats.

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Hardly anyone knew what a trash panda was, either, and the Trash Pandas are one of the hottest brands in the minors.

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The European eel is red-listed as critically endangered - it ranks one tier below the conservation status given to pandas, rhinos and tigers.

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A zoo has announced the birth of red panda twins after introducing the parents in 2024.

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