panda

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,^[1] 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”))^[2] + a regional Tibetan name for the animal (compare regional Tibetan ཕོ་ཉ (pho nya, “messenger”)).^[3]

Attributive uses of sense 2 (“giant panda”) generally refer to that animal’s distinctive black and white coat colour.^[3]

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpændə/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Homophone: pander (non-rhotic)
• Hyphenation: pan‧da
• Rhymes: -ændə

panda (plural pandas)

1. (now rare without a qualifying word) The red panda (Ailurus fulgens), a small raccoon-like animal of northeast Asia with reddish fur and a long, ringed tail. [from 19th c.]

   Synonyms: (obsolete) bear cat, (obsolete) cat bear, lesser panda, (archaic) wah

   • 2011, Angela R. Glatston, “Introduction”, in Angela R. Glatston, editor, Red Panda: Biology and Conservation of the First Panda, London, Burlington, Mass.: Academic Press, →ISBN, page 7:

     The red panda's history in zoos begins some 40 years after its discovery. The first one to be seen outside of its natural range arrived at London Zoo on 22nd May 1869, [...] On arrival at the zoo, the last surviving panda was given into the care of Abraham Bartlett, the superintendent of the zoo. [...] The feeding instructions that came with the panda said it should be given milk, a little rice and grass each day. [...] Bartlett felt that the suggested diet was not adequate and set out to find what the animal would accept; [...] Unfortunately, although it ate well, this first zoo red panda was not destined for a long life, it died suddenly during the night of 12 December 1869, a little over 6 months after its arrival.

2. (colloquial, also attributively) Ellipsis of giant panda (“Ailuropoda melanoleuca”). [from 19th c.]

   Synonyms: mottled bear, (Canada, US) panda bear

3. (British, law enforcement, colloquial) Ellipsis of panda car (“a black-and-white police car”). [from 20th c.]
   • 1975, Darcus Howe, editor, Race Today, London: Race Today Collective, →OCLC, page 279:

     Before the confrontation, the youth sighted a police personnel carrier, two dog patrol vans, a motorway style car, at least two pandas and one unmarked police car.

• → Malay: panda
• → Japanese: パンダ (panda)
• → Korean: 판다 (panda)
• → Tagalog: panda
• → Thai: แพนด้า (pɛn-dâa)

Borrowed from Hindi पंडा (paṇḍā) and Punjabi ਪਾਂਡਾ (pāṇḍā), both from Sanskrit पण्डित (paṇḍita, “learned, wise; learned man, pundit, scholar, teacher; Hindu Brahmin who has memorized a substantial proportion of the Vedas”). Doublet of pundit.^[4]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpʌndə/, /ˈpæn-/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑndə/
• Rhymes: -ʌndə
• Hyphenation: pan‧da

panda (plural pandas)

1. (Hinduism) A brahmin who acts as the hereditary superintendent of a particular ghat or temple, and is regarded as knowledgeable in matters of genealogy and ritual. [from 19th c.]
   • 1811–1812, Francis Buchanan, “Religion and Sects”, in J[ohn] F[rancis] W[illiam] J[ames], editor, An Account of the Districts of Bihar and Patna in 1811–1812 […], Patna, Bihar: Published by the Bihar and Orissa Research Society and printed by the Calcutta Oriental Press […], published [1926], →OCLC, book II (Of the People), section II (Of the Hindus), page 380:

     There are therefore in this district no Varna or degraded Brahmans nor are those at all disgraced who officiate in any temple as Pandas.

   • [1862, “PANDA: PUNDA”, in Edward Balfour, editor, The Second Supplement, with Index, to the Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia, […], Madras, Tamil Nadu: Printed for the editor at the Athenæum Press, Adelphi Press and Union Press, by Messrs. Pharaoh and Co., Gantz Brothers, and Cookson and Co., →OCLC, page 83:

     PANDA: PUNDA. Hind[i] and Beng[ali]. The proprietary or presiding priest of a Hindoo temple of Siva usually though not invariably a Brahman. The office is hereditary, and in some places, as at Benares, the Panda officiates only on particular occasions, the duties of daily worship being performed by inferior priests or Pujaris in his employ. The term is also applied to a priest who is stationary at any particular place or shrine.]

   • 1879, Mrs. J. C. Murray Aynsley [i.e., Harriet Georgiana Maria Murray Aynsley], chapter XI, in Our Visit to Hindostán, Kashmir, and Ladakh, London: W[illia]m H. Allen & Co., […] publishers to the India Office, →OCLC, page 155:

     The pilgrims are required first to bathe in the Marnikarnika Kund (or tank) near the ghât of that name, taking with them flowers and uncooked rice. [...] [T]hey must make presents to the pandas, who are certain privileged hereditary Brahmins. Whilst the pilgrim is in the water, the pandas repeat some Sanscrit verses; [...]

   • 1961, Prakash Tandon, chapter 1, in Punjabi Century: 1857–1947, London: Chatto and Windus, →OCLC; republished Berkeley, Los Angeles, Calif.: University of California Press, 1973, →ISBN, page 9:

     Whenever there is a death in the family, someone will go to Hardwar to immerse the ashes of the departed. There our family has its own panda, as these priests are called, who at his death is succeeded by his son. He maintains the family records in long, old-fashioned Indian ledgers, covered in red cloth, in which he writes down the length of the page. [...] When I first visited Hardwar I only had to say I was a Tandon from Gujrat, and from a crowd of pandas our priest came forward and reeled off our whole family tree for several generations.

   • 1994, Jonathan P. Parry, “Shares and Chicanery”, in Death in Banaras (Lewis Henry Morgan Lectures; 1988), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, part II (Death as a Living), page 108:

     'The mafia-like activities' and 'growing internal competition' of the contemporary panda community are the consequence of an almost complete breakdown of the old configuration. Durable long-term relations between priests and their patrons have been replaced by 'the emergence of a totally impersonal religious market' [...], a controlled trickle of elite donors by a torrent of hoi polloi pilgrims, and the relationship between panda and pilgrim has been replaced by that between panda and agent as the pivot of the system.

   • 1998, Salabega, “Where Do You Take My Lord”, in Niranjan Mohanty, transl., White Whispers: (Selected Poems of Salabega): Translated from the Oriya Original, New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, →ISBN, page 50:

     Many a time, the temple received unkind ravishments from the non-Hindu attackers. [...] The frightened pandas of Puri considered Lord Jagannatha to be the living and loving god, the caretaker of their beings and their country. They had no other option but to hide the Lord from the clutches of the javanas. It is learnt from history and the contemporary literature that the pandas used to carry the Lord to distant hills and mountainous ranges.

   • 2009, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, London: John Murray, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Picador, 2009, →ISBN, page 135:

     I may be man of commerce in your eyes, Miss—and in this age of evil, who is not?—but are you aware that eleven generations of my ancestors have been pandas at one of Nabadwip's most famous temples?

   • 2010, James G. Lochtefeld, “The Hardwar Pandas”, in God’s Gateway: Identity and Meaning in a Hindu Pilgrimage Place, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 124:

     As at most Hindu pilgrimage sites, Hardwar has a group of local brahmins who serve as hereditary pilgrim guides. The most respectful name for them is tirtha purohit (a tirtha "priest'), but the more common name is panda, a short form of pandita ("a learned man"). Pandas arrange for their clients' material and ritual needs, and they also officiate at certain life-cycle ceremonies (samskaras). In return, their clients give them fees and gifts.

   • 2010 March 9, Rith Basu, “Panda-monium at Kalighat temple”, in The Telegraph‎^[1], Kolkata, West Bengal: ABP Pvt. Ltd., →OCLC:

     Trouble broke out at Kalighat temple on Monday morning after police barred pandas from near the sanctum sanctorum. Angry pandas, some armed with sticks, allegedly assaulted members of the temple committee. [...] Temple sources said the cop crackdown was a knee-jerk reaction to a complaint filed by an NRI [non-resident Indian] woman on Sunday against the pandas.

• giant panda on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• red panda on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• panda (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Borrowed from French panda.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈpan.də]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈpan.da]

panda m (plural pandes)

1. panda

   Synonym: panda gegant

• panda petit

• “panda”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

From English panda, from French panda, of unclear ultimate origin but probably from the second element of nigálya-pónya, a form recorded by Brian Houghton Hodgson and possibly ultimately derived from regional Tibetan ཕོ་ཉ (pho nya), whose usual meaning is "messenger".

• Hyphenation: pan‧da

panda

1. the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)
2. the red panda (Ailurus fulgens)

panda

1. banana
2. food

• The Languages of the Andes (2004, Willem F. H. Adelaar, Pieter C. Muysken)

From French panda.

• Hyphenation: pan‧da

panda

1. panda

• “panda”, in Luğatçıq (in Russian)

• IPA^(key): [ˈpanda]

panda f

1. panda

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

panda c (singular definite pandaen, plural indefinite pandaer)

1. giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

   Synonyms: stor panda, bambusbjørn

2. red panda (Ailurus fulgens)

   Synonyms: lille panda, rød panda, kattebjørn

• panda on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da

Borrowed from French panda, apparently from regional Tibetan ཕོ་ཉ (pho nya).

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɑn.daː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pan‧da

panda m (plural panda's, diminutive pandaatje n)

1. panda, giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)
2. red panda (Ailurus fulgens)

• panda on the Dutch Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^nl

From French panda.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɑndɑ/, [ˈpɑ̝ndɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -ɑndɑ
• Syllabification^(key): pan‧da
• Hyphenation^(key): pan‧da

panda

1. panda

   Synonyms: isopanda, jättiläispanda, pandakarhu

• “panda”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[2] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 3 July 2023

• padan

Coined by Georges Cuvier in 1825. Of unclear ultimate origin but probably from the second element of nigálya-pónya, a form recorded by Brian Houghton Hodgson and possibly ultimately derived from regional Tibetan ཕོ་ཉ (pho nya), whose usual meaning is "messenger".

• IPA^(key): /pɑ̃.da/

• Audio:

  (file)

panda m (plural pandas)

1. panda

• petit panda

• “panda”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• IPA^(key): [ˈpɒndɒ]
• Hyphenation: pan‧da

panda (plural pandák)

1. panda

Borrowed from English panda.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpʰanta/
• Rhymes: -anta

panda f (genitive singular pöndu, nominative plural pöndur)

1. panda

   Synonyms: pandabjörn; (a female bear) pandabirna

From Dutch panda, from French panda, apparently from regional Tibetan ཕོ་ཉ (pho nya).

• IPA^(key): [ˈpanda]
• Hyphenation: pan‧da

panda (plural panda-panda)

1. panda, giant panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca

• “panda” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Borrowed from English panda.

panda m (genitive singular panda, nominative plural pandaí)

1. panda

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “panda”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “panda”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “panda”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2025

Borrowed from French panda, apparently from regional Tibetan ཕོ་ཉ (pho nya).

• IPA^(key): /ˈpan.da/
• Rhymes: -anda
• Hyphenation: pàn‧da

panda m (invariable)

1. panda, especially the giant panda

• ailuro

• panda in Collins Italian-English Dictionary
• panda in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication

pandā

1. second-person singular present active imperative of pandō

panda

1. inflection of pandus:
   1. nominative/vocative feminine singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter plural

pandā

1. ablative feminine singular of pandus

From Proto-Finnic *pandak.

panda

1. put

From English panda, from French panda.

• IPA^(key): [pandə]
• Rhymes: -andə, -də, -ə

panda (Jawi spelling ڤندا, plural panda-panda)

1. panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

• “panda” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

Borrowed from English panda.

panda m (plural pandas)

1. (Jersey) panda

Internationalism; compare English panda, French panda, German Panda.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpan.da/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -anda
• Syllabification: pan‧da
• Homophone: Panda

panda f

1. giant panda, panda, panda bear (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

   Synonyms: niedźwiedź bambusowy, panda wielka

2. (rare) red panda, lesser panda (Ailurus fulgens)

   Synonyms: panda czerwona, panda mała, panda mniejsza, panda ruda, pandka ruda

3. Fiat Panda car

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

• Rhymes: -ɐ̃dɐ
• Hyphenation: pan‧da

From French panda.

panda m (plural pandas)

1. panda

Borrowed from Kimbundu panda (“vessel”).

panda f (plural pandas)

1. (Angola) a vessel for liquids

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

panda

1. feminine singular of pando

• “panda”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
• “panda”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025

Borrowed from French panda.

panda m (uncountable)

1. panda

• IPA^(key): /pǎːnda/
• Hyphenation: pan‧da

pánda f (Cyrillic spelling па́нда)

1. panda

• IPA^(key): /ˈpanda/ [ˈpãn̪.d̪a]
• Rhymes: -anda
• Syllabification: pan‧da

Borrowed from Latin pandus, from pandō (“to extend, spread out”).

panda f (plural pandas)

2. (colloquial, collective) gang, bunch

   una panda de vagos ― a bunch of bums

panda f

1. feminine singular of pando

Borrowed from French panda.

panda m (plural pandas)

1. panda

   Synonyms: panda gigante, oso panda

• “panda”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024
• panda on the Spanish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^es

• Audio (Kenya):

  (file)

-panda (infinitive kupanda)

1. to climb, ascend, rise
2. to plant
3. to board (of an aircraft)

   kupanda ndege ― to board a plane

Conjugation of -panda
Positive present -napanda Subjunctive -pande Negative -pandi Imperative singular panda
Infinitives
Positive kupanda Negative kutopanda
Imperatives
Singular panda Plural pandeni
Tensed forms
Habitual hupanda Positive past positive subject concord + -lipanda Negative past negative subject concord + -kupanda
Positive present (positive subject concord + -napanda) Singular Plural 1st person ninapanda/napanda tunapanda 2nd person unapanda mnapanda 3rd person m-wa(I/II) anapanda wanapanda other classes positive subject concord + -napanda
Negative present (negative subject concord + -pandi) Singular Plural 1st person sipandi hatupandi 2nd person hupandi hampandi 3rd person m-wa(I/II) hapandi hawapandi other classes negative subject concord + -pandi
Positive future positive subject concord + -tapanda Negative future negative subject concord + -tapanda
Positive subjunctive (positive subject concord + -pande) Singular Plural 1st person nipande tupande 2nd person upande mpande 3rd person m-wa(I/II) apande wapande other classes positive subject concord + -pande
Negative subjunctive positive subject concord + -sipande Positive present conditional positive subject concord + -ngepanda Negative present conditional positive subject concord + -singepanda Positive past conditional positive subject concord + -ngalipanda Negative past conditional positive subject concord + -singalipanda
Gnomic (positive subject concord + -apanda) Singular Plural 1st person napanda twapanda 2nd person wapanda mwapanda 3rd person m-wa(I/II) apanda wapanda m-mi(III/IV) wapanda yapanda ji-ma(V/VI) lapanda yapanda ki-vi(VII/VIII) chapanda vyapanda n(IX/X) yapanda zapanda u(XI) wapanda see n(X) or ma(VI) class ku(XV/XVII) kwapanda pa(XVI) papanda mu(XVIII) mwapanda
Perfect positive subject concord + -mepanda "Already" positive subject concord + -meshapanda "Not yet" negative subject concord + -japanda "If/When" positive subject concord + -kipanda "If not" positive subject concord + -sipopanda Consecutive kapanda / positive subject concord + -kapanda Consecutive subjunctive positive subject concord + -kapande
Object concord (indicative positive) Singular Plural 1st person -nipanda -tupanda 2nd person -kupanda -wapanda/-kupandeni/-wapandeni 3rd person m-wa(I/II) -mpanda -wapanda m-mi(III/IV) -upanda -ipanda ji-ma(V/VI) -lipanda -yapanda ki-vi(VII/VIII) -kipanda -vipanda n(IX/X) -ipanda -zipanda u(XI) -upanda see n(X) or ma(VI) class ku(XV/XVII) -kupanda pa(XVI) -papanda mu(XVIII) -mupanda Reflexive -jipanda
Relative forms General positive (positive subject concord + (object concord) + -panda- + relative marker) Singular Plural m-wa(I/II) -pandaye -pandao m-mi(III/IV) -pandao -pandayo ji-ma(V/VI) -pandalo -pandayo ki-vi(VII/VIII) -pandacho -pandavyo n(IX/X) -pandayo -pandazo u(XI) -pandao see n(X) or ma(VI) class ku(XV/XVII) -pandako pa(XVI) -pandapo mu(XVIII) -pandamo Other forms (subject concord + tense marker + relative marker + (object concord) + -panda) Singular Plural m-wa(I/II) -yepanda -opanda m-mi(III/IV) -opanda -yopanda ji-ma(V/VI) -lopanda -yopanda ki-vi(VII/VIII) -chopanda -vyopanda n(IX/X) -yopanda -zopanda u(XI) -opanda see n(X) or ma(VI) class ku(XV/XVII) -kopanda pa(XVI) -popanda mu(XVIII) -mopanda
Some forms not commonly seen in modern Standard Swahili are absent from the table. See Appendix:Swahili verbs for more information.

• Verbal derivations:
  • Applicative: -pandia
  • Causative: -pandisha
  • Passive: -pandwa
  • Reciprocal: -pandana
  • Stative: -pandika

• Nominal derivations:
  • upandaji (“climbing; planting”)

• IPA^(key): /ˈpanda/

panda c

1. giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

   Synonyms: jättepanda, pandabjörn

2. red panda (Ailurus fulgens)

   Synonyms: kattbjörn, mindre panda, liten panda, röd panda

Borrowed from English panda, from French panda, of unclear etymology.

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈpanda/ [ˈpan̪.d̪ɐ]
• Rhymes: -anda
• Syllabification: pan‧da

panda (Baybayin spelling ᜉᜈ᜔ᜇ)

1. panda

• “panda”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018

• andap

• IPA^(key): [panda]

panda (definite accusative pandayı, plural pandalar)

1. panda

panda

1. to stamp

From Proto-Finnic *pandak.

panda

1. to put, place
2. to set
3. to lay
4. to put on
5. to put together

Inflection of panda (inflection type 25/purda)
1st infinitive	panda
present indic.	paneb
past indic.	pani
	present indicative	past indicative	imperative
1st singular	panen	panin	—
2nd singular	paned	panid	pane
3rd singular	paneb	pani	pangaha
1st plural	panem	panim	pangam
2nd plural	panet	panit	pangat
3rd plural	pandas paneba	paniba	pangaha
sing. conneg.1	pane	panend	pane
plur. conneg.	pangoi	pannugoi	pangoi
	present conditional	past conditional	potential
1st singular	panižin	pannuižin	pannen
2nd singular	panižid	pannuižid	panned
3rd singular	paniži	pannuiži	panneb
1st plural	panižim	pannuižim	pannem
2nd plural	panižit	pannuižit	pannet
3rd plural	panižiba	pannuižiba	panneba
connegative	paniži	pannuiži	panne
non-finite forms
1st infinitive	panda
2nd infinitive		3rd infinitive
inessive	pandes	inessive	panmas
instructive	panden	illative	panmaha
participles		elative	panmaspäi
present active	panii	adessive	panmal
past active	pannu	abessive	panmat
past passive	pandud
1 In imperative: used only in the second-person singular. The plural form is used with other persons.

• Zajceva, N. G., Mullonen, M. I. (2007) “вкладывать, включать, вставить, выпадать, класть, надеть, назначить, накладывать, подложить, положить, поставить, разложить, расставлять, складывать, сложить, ставить, укладывать, установить”, in Uz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary]‎^[3], Petrozavodsk: Periodika

• IPA^(key): /k͡pá.ŋ́.dā/

páńda

1. counterfeit

• owó-páńda (“counterfeit money”)