# panda

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈpændə/ · frequency rank #12,118

## Definitions
1. The red panda (Ailurus fulgens), a small raccoon-like animal of northeast Asia with reddish fur and a long, ringed tail.
2. Ellipsis of giant panda (“Ailuropoda melanoleuca”).
3. Ellipsis of panda car (“a black-and-white police car”).

## 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.

## Easily confused with
- **PDA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/panda-vs-pda)
- **pond** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/panda-vs-pond)
- **papa** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/panda-vs-papa)
- **pans** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/panda-vs-pans)
- **pant** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/panda-vs-pant)
- **pang** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/panda-vs-pang)
- **pane** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/panda-vs-pane)
- **pena** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/panda-vs-pena)
- **panel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/panda-vs-panel)
- **pants** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/panda-vs-pants)
- **panic** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/panda-vs-panic)
- **pasta** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/panda-vs-pasta)
- **Paula** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/panda-vs-paula)
- **Papua** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/panda-vs-papua)
- **pasha** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/panda-vs-pasha)
- **parma** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/panda-vs-parma)
- **panty** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/panda-vs-panty)
- **panes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/panda-vs-panes)
- **Patna** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/panda-vs-patna)
- **pansy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/panda-vs-pansy)

## Common misspellings (7)
`apnda`, `padna`, `panad`, `pandda`, `pannda`, `pnada`, `ppanda`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/panda