panda

English borrowed panda from French panda, whose origin is uncertain but probably traces to nigálya-pónya, a local name for the red panda recorded in Nepal and Sikkim by the naturalist Brian Houghton Hodgson. That name likely combines a Nepali word describing a species of bamboo with a regional Tibetan word for the animal, possibly related to a term meaning 'messenger.'

The name first attached to the red panda, described through local names tied to its bamboo diet. When attributed to the giant panda, the word came to evoke its black-and-white coat rather than the bamboo connection.

A separate English word panda, meaning a Hindu temple guide, comes from Hindi and Punjabi words ultimately from Sanskrit paṇḍita — making it a doublet of pundit, though unrelated to the animal's name.