leopard

• lybard (14th–16th centuries)
• libbard (14th–19th centuries)

From Middle English leopard, leopart, lepard, leperd, from Old French leopard (“leopard”), from Late Latin leopardus (“leopon, lipard”) from late Ancient Greek λεόπαρδος (leópardos, “leopon, lipard”), from λέων (léōn, “lion”) + πάρδος (párdos, “pard, male leopard”),^[1] from earlier πάρδαλις (párdalis, “leopard”),^[2] probably from an unattested Old Persian [Term?] term ancestral to Middle Persian palang, Khwarezmian plyk, Sogdian [script needed] (pwrδnk), Pashto پړانګ (pṛāng).^[3] Compare Persian پلنگ (palang) and Sanskrit पृदाकु (pṛdāku, “panther”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛpəd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛpɚd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: lepered

leopard (plural leopards)

2. Panthera pardus, a large wild cat with a spotted coat native to Africa and Asia, especially the male of the species (in contrast to leopardess).
   • 1990, Dorothy L. Cheney, How Monkeys See the World: Inside the Mind of Another Species, published 1992, page 284:

     During all such cases when we were present they responded by giving repeated alarm calls, even when the leopard was already feeding on a carcass. We wanted to determine whether vervets knew enough about the behavior of leopards to recognize that, even in the absence of a leopard, a carcass in a tree signaled the same potential danger as did a leopard itself.

   • 1998, Oded Borowski, Every Living Thing: Daily Use of Animals in Ancient Israel, page 201:

     The leopard (Panthera pardus or Felis pardus cf tulliana) is a close relative of the lion, but biblical references mentioning it are very few, suggesting that it was not as common.

   • 2005, Richard Ellis, Tiger Bone & Rhino Horn: The Destruction of Wildlife for Traditional Chinese Medicine, page 197:

     Leopard skins have always been desirable commodities because of their spectacular spotted patterns.

3. (inexact) A similar-looking, large wild cat named after the leopard.
   • 2005, Eric Dinerstein, Tigerland and Other Unintended Destinations, page 81:

     There are plenty of beautiful cats among the thirty-nine species in the Felidae family, but the three leopards—clouded, common, and snow—may be the most visually stunning. Cloaked in the most beautiful fur of any cat, the reclusive clouded leopard is the Greta Garbo of the lot; it lives a solitary life in the remote jungles of Asia, from Nepal to Borneo.

   1. A clouded leopard (either Neofelis nebulosa or Neofelis diardi), a large wild cat native to Asia.
   2. The snow leopard (Panthera uncia), a large wild cat native to Asia.
4. (heraldry) A lion passant guardant.
   • 1968, Charles MacKinnon of Dunakin, The Observer's Book of Heraldry, pages 68–69:

     Sometimes there is confusion over the heraldic leopard, the question being—When is a leopard not a leopard? There is a theory that the lion and leopard were the same thing, and that they were named entirely depending on their attitude—thus if the animal was passant guardant it was a leopard, but when rampant it was a lion. Nowadays a leopard is the genuine spotted article and quite unmistakeable. Some people still speak, wrongly, of the leopards of England, but it does no great harm as it is an ancient expression and everybody knows what it means.

5. Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Phalanta, having black markings on an orange base.

• (Panthera pardus): common leopard, pard, pardal
• (Neofelis nebulosa/Neofelis diardi): See clouded leopard
• (Panthera uncia): See snow leopard

• See cat and wild cat
• panther

• (female): leopardess
• (young): cub, leopard cub

• (hybrid formed by a leopard and a lioness): leopon
• (hybrid formed by a lion and a leopardess): lipard

• paroled, preload

Borrowed from Russian леопард (leopard), from Latin leopardus (“leopard”).

leopard

1. leopard

• Mirjejev, V. A., Usejinov, S. M. (2002) Ukrajinsʹko-krymsʹkotatarsʹkyj slovnyk [Ukrainian – Crimean Tatar Dictionary]‎^[1], Simferopol: Dolya, →ISBN
• “leopard”, in Luğatçıq (in Russian)

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɛopart]

leopard m anim (female equivalent leopardice)

1. leopard

   Synonym: levhart

• “leopard”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “leopard”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

leopard c (singular definite leoparden, plural indefinite leoparder)

1. leopard

• “leopard” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “leopard” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

Borrowed from German Leopard.

• IPA^(key): /lɛˈɔ.part/
• Rhymes: -ɔpart
• Syllabification: le‧o‧pard

leopard m animal (female equivalent leopardzëca)

1. synonym of lampart

• Eùgeniusz Gòłąbk (2011) “leopard”, in Słownik Polsko-Kaszubski / Słowôrz Pòlskò-Kaszëbsczi‎^[2]

leopard m (definite singular leoparden, indefinite plural leoparder, definite plural leopardene)

1. a leopard (big cat, Panthera pardus)

• snøleopard

• panter

leopard m (definite singular leoparden, indefinite plural leopardar, definite plural leopardane)

1. a leopard (as above)

• snøleopard

• panter

Internationalism; compare English leopard, French léopard, German Leopard, ultimately from Late Latin leopardus, from Ancient Greek λεόπαρδος (leópardos). Doublet of lampart.

• IPA^(key): /lɛˈɔ.part/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔpart
• Syllabification: le‧o‧pard
• Homophone: Leopard

leopard m animal

1. leopard (Panthera pardus)

   Synonyms: lampart, lampart plamisty, pantera, rysiec

2. (military) Leopard tank

• leopard in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• leopard in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Borrowed from French léopard, from Latin leopardus.

• IPA^(key): /ˌle.oˈpard/
• Hyphenation: le‧o‧pard

leopard m (plural leoparzi)

1. leopard

• “leopard”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025

• IPA^(key): /lêopaːrd/
• Hyphenation: le‧o‧pard

lȅopārd m anim (Cyrillic spelling ле̏опа̄рд)

1. leopard

• “leopard”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

leopard c

1. leopard

   Synonym: panter

   en leopardmönstrad tröja

   a leopard print sweater

• → Finnish: leopardi

• gepard (“cheetah”)

• leopard in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• leopard in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• leopard in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

• polerad