panther

Etymology

The word was first taken into Old English, as pandher, borrowed from Latin panthēra (“leopard, large spotted cat”).^[2][3] It was borrowed again in Middle English as pantere, panter,^[4][5][6] from Old French pantere, recorded from the first half of the 12th century, and the Anglo-Norman forms panthere, pantere, and directly from the Latin word.^[2][6][5][7] The modern spelling panther appears in Caxton's translation of Aesop's fables (1484), probably shaped on the Latin.^[5] The Latin noun comes from Ancient Greek πάνθηρ (pánthēr, “panther, leopard”),^[2][6][8][9] which the OED calls evidently a loanword of unknown origin.^[2] Etymonline and Hoad think it of Eastern origin, Barnhart probably from a language of Asia Minor,^[6][9][5] and Klein and Merriam-Webster connect it with the source of a Sanskrit word for "tiger".^[4][10] In antiquity the name was explained as παν- (pan-, “all”) and θήρ (thḗr, “wild beast”), a folk etymology that gave rise to many fables.^[2][6][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A spotted big cat believed to be distinct from the leopard: the OED's first record is the Old English poem The Panther,^[2] and Barnhart finds Middle English panter, leopard, before 1250.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Latin had both panthēra and pardus, leopard, and the two names caused confusion: until the mid 19th century many naturalists thought the panther and the leopard were separate species.^[12][13] Hoad notes that the word was at first used with only a vague idea of the animal.^[9] In medieval bestiaries the folk etymology from Greek pan-, all, was read as a sign of the beast's many colours and virtues, as in Philippe de Thaun's French Bestiaire (about 1130).^[2] Barnhart records a use in alchemy in 1471, suggesting the spotted, many-coloured look of certain substances.^[5] In America the name was given to the puma or cougar, from 1683 in the OED and by 1730 in Etymonline and Barnhart,^[2][6][5] and for a time to the jaguar.^[2][9] The figurative use for a fierce or elusive person dates from Shelley (1822).^[2] Since 1967 a Panther was a member of the Black Panther party in the United States.^[2][10] American slang used panther (panther sweat) for strong, cheap liquor from 1931.^[2][14]

Timeline

• Old English – recorded in the poem The Panther.^[2]
• before 1250 – panter, leopard.^[5]
• 1471 – in alchemy, of a spotted or many-coloured appearance.^[5]
• 1484 – the spelling panthere, in Caxton's Aesop.^[5]
• 1656 – the name of a drug (now obsolete).^[2]
• 1683 – the puma or cougar, in a letter of William Penn;^[2] Etymonline and Barnhart date this use to 1730.^[6][5]
• 1775 – a European moth (obsolete).^[2]
• 1822 – figuratively, a fierce or elusive person, in Shelley.^[2]
• 1897 – to feast with panthers, in Oscar Wilde's De Profundis.^[2]
• 1931 – strong liquor, US slang.^[2]
• 1967 – a member of the Black Panthers.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A leopard, especially one with black fur.^[15][10][2]
2. (US and Canada) The puma or cougar.^[15][10][2]
3. The jaguar.^[10][14]
4. Panther: a member of the Black Panther party.^[10][2]
5. A fierce, powerful or elusive person or thing.^[2][6]

Word family

• black panther
• Gray Panther

Related words

• pard
• leopard

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins