leopard n.

late 13c. (early 13c. as a surname), "large cat of the wooded country of Africa and South Asia," from Old French lebard, leupart "leopard," heraldic or real (12c., Modern French léopard), from Late Latin leopardus, literally "lion-pard, lion-panther" (the animal was thought in ancient times to be a hybrid of these two species), from Greek leopardos, from leon "lion" (see lion) + pardos "male panther," which generally is said to be connected to Sanskrit prdakuh "panther, tiger."

Largest spotted cat of the Old World, the name later also was applied to big cats in the Americas. The word is widespread in Europe: Dutch luipaard, German, Danish leopard, Spanish, Italian leopardo. Middle English spelling variants included lubard, lebarde, lypard, lyepart. Proverbial references to its inability to change its spots are from Jeremiah xiii.23. In Middle English the word is used often in heraldry, but there it refers to a lion passant gardant (as on the emblem of Edward the Black Prince).

词汇	leopard
词源	leopard n. late 13c. (early 13c. as a surname), "large cat of the wooded country of Africa and South Asia," from Old French lebard, leupart "leopard," heraldic or real (12c., Modern French léopard), from Late Latin leopardus, literally "lion-pard, lion-panther" (the animal was thought in ancient times to be a hybrid of these two species), from Greek leopardos, from leon "lion" (see lion) + pardos "male panther," which generally is said to be connected to Sanskrit prdakuh "panther, tiger." Largest spotted cat of the Old World, the name later also was applied to big cats in the Americas. The word is widespread in Europe: Dutch luipaard, German, Danish leopard, Spanish, Italian leopardo. Middle English spelling variants included lubard, lebarde, lypard, lyepart. Proverbial references to its inability to change its spots are from Jeremiah xiii.23. In Middle English the word is used often in heraldry, but there it refers to a lion passant gardant (as on the emblem of Edward the Black Prince). Entries linking to leopard lion n. late 12c., from Old French lion "lion," also figuratively "hero" (12c.), from Latin leonem (nominative leo) "lion; the constellation Leo," from Greek leon (genitive leontos), a word from a non-Indo-European language, perhaps Semitic (compare Hebrew labhi "lion," plural lebaim; Egyptian labai, lawai "lioness"). Old English had the word straight from Latin as leo (Anglian lea). The Latin word was borrowed throughout Germanic (compare Old Frisian lawa; Middle Dutch leuwe, Dutch leeuw; Old High German lewo, German Löwe); it is also found in most other European languages, often via Germanic (Old Church Slavonic livu, Polish lew, Czech lev, Old Irish leon, Welsh llew). Extended 17c. to American big cats. Sometimes used ironically of other animals (for example Cotswold lion "sheep" (16c.; lyons of Cotteswold is from mid-15c.). In early 19c., to avoid advertising breaches of the game laws, hare, when served as food was listed as lion. Paired alliteratively with lamb since late 14c. Used figuratively from c. 1200 in English of lion-like persons, in an approving sense, "one who is fiercely brave," and a disapproving one, "tyrannical leader, greedy devourer." Lion-hearted is from 1708. Lion's share "the greatest portion" is attested from 1701. The image of the lion's mouth as a place of great danger is from c. 1200. Lowse me, lauerd, ut of þe liunes muð. ["St. Margaret of Antioch," c. 1200] pard n.1 archaic form of leopard, c. 1300, parde, from Latin pardus "a male panther," from Greek pardos "male panther," from the same source (probably Iranian) as Sanskrit prdaku-s "leopard, tiger, snake," and Persian palang "panther." updated on September 27, 2016
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leopard n.

Entries linking to leopard