leopard

From Middle English leopard, from Old French leopard, from Late Latin leopardus, from Greek λεόπαρδος (leópardos), itself a fusion of λέων (léōn, "lion") and πάρδος (párdos, "pard, male leopard"). The Greek párdos in turn traces to an earlier form párdalis, probably from an unattested Old Persian word ancestral to terms like Middle Persian palang and Sogdian pwrδnk.

The word first named a hybrid or mixed creature in Greek thought — a supposed cross between a lion and a pard — before settling into English by the late 13th century as the name for the leopard itself.

It shares roots with Persian palang and Sanskrit pṛdāku ("panther"), both descending from that same ancient Old Persian ancestor behind párdalis.