pan·da 
(păndə)
(păndə)n.
1. A bear (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) of the mountains of central China, having woolly fur with distinctive black and white markings. Also called giant panda, panda bear.
2. An arboreal raccoonlike mammal (Ailurus fulgens) of northeast Asia, having reddish fur, white face markings, and a long ringed tail. Also called lesser panda, red panda.
[French panda, (originally) red panda (now also giant panda), technical zoological name introduced in 1825 by Georges Léopold Cuvier, probably from shortening and alteration of a local term for the red panda in Nepal nigálya-pónya, cited in early British accounts of the animal : nigálya-, akin to Nepali niṅāle, relating to the bamboo species Drepanostachyum falcatum, red panda (which eats such bamboo) + ponya (meaning uncertain; perhaps akin to Nepali pauṃjā, paw, from alteration, influenced by panjā, claws, of earlier *pauṃco; akin to Hindi pahuṃcā, forearm, wrist, from Middle Indic *pahuñca, of unknown origin).]
pandaAiluropoda melanoleuca