leopard

Meaning

Noun

• Panthera pardus, a large wild cat with a spotted coat native to Africa and Asia, especially the male of the species .
• A similar-looking, large wild cat named after the leopard.
• A lion passant guardant.
• Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Phalanta (genus), having black markings on an orange base.

Related

Similar words

• common leopard, pard, pardal
• See clouded leopard
• See snow leopard

Narrower meaning words

• leopardess
• cub, leopard cub

Broader meaning words

• See cat and wild cat
• panther

Origin

• From Middle English leopard, leopart, lepard, leperd, from Old French leopard ("leopard"), from Late Latin leopardus ("leopon, lipard") from late Ancient Greek λεόπαρδος ("leopon, lipard"), from λέων + πάρδος, from earlier πάρδαλις, probably from an unattested Old Persian term ancestral to Middle Persian palang, Khwarezmian plyk, Sogdian, Pashto پړانګ. Compare Persian پلنگ and Sanskrit पृदाकु ("panther").