Leopard
nounA large wild cat with a tawny coat marked by dark rosette spots, native to Africa and Asia.
How to spell leopard
7 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce leopard
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does leopard mean?
- nounA large wild cat with a tawny coat marked by dark rosette spots, native to Africa and Asia.
Leopard in a sentence
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The leopard dragged its kill high into a tree to keep it safe.
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On safari we watched a leopard resting along a low branch at dusk.
Where does leopard come from?
Language of origin: Greek
The word comes from the Greek leopardos, a compound of leon meaning 'lion' and pardos meaning 'panther' or 'male panther'. Ancient writers wrongly believed the animal was a hybrid offspring of a lion and a panther, which is why the two roots were stitched together. The term passed into Late Latin as leopardus and then into English through Old French lepard or leupart during the 1200s. The modern spelling restored the classical 'o' that the French had worn away, and it is precisely that silent, unstressed middle that traps writers today: the word is said 'LEP-erd' but written with the buried 'leo' of lion still intact. The same pardos root survives in 'pard', an old poetic name for the leopard, and is distantly linked to the Sanskrit prdaku, a word for a tiger or snake.
How the word is built
- leo- (from Greek leon: lion)
- pard (from Greek pardos: panther)
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