Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

panda

/ˈpæːndə/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.65 in modern English

Syllables
pan-da
IPA
/ˈpæːndə/
8
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The red panda (Ailurus fulgens), a small raccoon-like animal of northeast Asia with reddish fur and a long, ringed tail.

Archaic

noun

Ellipsis of giant panda (“Ailuropoda melanoleuca”).

Colloquial

noun

Ellipsis of panda car (“a black-and-white police car”).

British usage; Colloquial

Example Sentences

Etymology

Borrowed from French panda, of unclear ultimate origin but probably from the second element of nigálya-pónya, a local name for the red panda recorded in Nepal and Sikkim by Brian Houghton Hodgson (1800 or 1801 – 1894), an ethnologist, naturalist and the British Resident of Nepal, possibly from Nepali निँगाले (nĩgāle, “relating to a certain species of bamboo”) (the adjectival form of निँगालो (nĩgālo), a variant of निङालो (niṅālo, “Drepanostachyum intermedium, a species of bamboo”)) + a regional Tibetan name for the animal (compare regional Tibetan ཕོ་ཉ (pho nya, “messenger”)). Attributive uses of sense 2 (“a giant panda”) generally refer to that animal’s distinctive black and white coat colour.

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: निँगाले, -, पंडा, ਪਾਂਡਾ, पण्डित

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /ˈpæːndə/
  • British English: /ˈpændə/

Usage

Inflected Forms

Derived Forms

Phrases

Frequently Paired Words

Synonyms

Homonyms

Rhymes With

Questions

How do you pronounce panda?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˈpæːndə/.
What does panda mean?
The red panda (Ailurus fulgens), a small raccoon-like animal of northeast Asia with reddish fur and a long, ringed tail.
Where does panda come from?
It is traced to Hindi.

How to pronounce panda

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “panda”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈpæːndə/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “panda”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “panda” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.