Jaguar
/ˈdʒæɡ.ju.ər/noun
A large spotted wild cat native to the Americas.
Did you know?The word entered English from Portuguese and ultimately comes from a Tupí-Guaraní word, often reconstructed as *îagûara, meaning a wild beast or dog-like predator, showing how Indigenous names were carried into global languages through colonial contact.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Tupian / Indigenous South America
Tupí-Guaraní
*îagûara
“wild beast; dog-like predator”
16th Century
Portuguese
jaguar
“the American spotted big cat”
16th-17th Century
Spanish
jaguar
“the American spotted big cat”
18th Century
English
jaguar
“the American spotted big cat”
Modern English
English
jaguar
“a large spotted wild cat native to the Americas”