panda
pan·da/ˈpændə/noun
panda is spelled P-A-N-D-A: 5 letters and 2 syllables (pan·da). It appears 4.5 times per million words in written English, the 12,045th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, panda means “Ellipsis of giant panda (“Ailuropoda melanoleuca”)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of panda is pandas.
How many letters and syllables are in panda?
| Letters | 5: P-A-N-D-A |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: pan·da |
| In writing | 4.5 times per million words; the 12,045th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is panda?
Panda appears 4.5 times per million words in written English, the 12,045th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce panda?
- UK /ˈpændə/
- /ˈpændə/
- [ˈpʰeə̯ndə] ~ [ˈpʰɛə̯ndə]
As a noun (“A brahmin who acts as the hereditary superintendent of a…”): /ˈpʌndə/, /ˈpæn-/, /ˈpɑndə/.
Panda has 2 syllables, split pan·da in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-panda.ogg, En-au-pander.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-panda.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with panda
Sounds like: pander (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: panda car.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with panda?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as panda from its last stressed vowel (/ændə/, British pronunciation):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of panda
- pandas plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does panda mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
archaicThe red panda (Ailurus fulgens), a small raccoon-like animal of northeast Asia with reddish fur and a long, ringed tail.
- 2
colloquialEllipsis of giant panda (“Ailuropoda melanoleuca”).
- 3
UKcolloquialEllipsis of panda car (“a black-and-white police car”).
- 4
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Panda in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Ailuropoda melanoleuca – see also giant panda:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does panda come from?
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”)).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).