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Glite Dictionary
panda bear

panda bear

5 1.0
A large black and white bear from China that eats mostly bamboo
  • noun
  • /ˈpændə bɛr/
translation icon : oso panda
  • At the zoo, children gathered to watch the giant panda bear munching on bamboo.

And I don't, it's just like if I liked panda bears or polar bears, right?

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Examples

  • So, while giant panda bears are cute, they probably aren't the best mascots for the environmental movement.

    Blog text (23)

  • The giant panda bear has a little baby panda bear, and there's just nothing cuter than a little baby panda bear...

    Role Models (2008)

  • The panda bear is sitting there.

    The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)

  • So in honor of the cute little panda bear characters in the game and the World Wildlife Fund, today we are going to be making some cute little DIY panda traits.

    Rosanna Pansino

  • The panda bear is an iconic symbol of wildlife conservation efforts in China.

  • Seeing a panda bear up close is a memorable experience for many visitors to its natural habitat.

Synonyms

panda
vspanda bear
68 1.0

A large black-and-white bear that eats bamboo in forests of China

is a slightly longer descriptive phrase rather than the short familiar term
giant panda
vspanda bear
5 1.7

A large black and white bear from China that eats mainly bamboo

is a variant two-word name used instead of that species label
Ailuropoda melanoleuca
vspanda bear
  • Specialized
8.1

A large black and white bear that eats bamboo and lives in Chinese mountain forests

is the ordinary English descriptive name rather than a Latin taxonomic label
coon bear
vspanda bear
  • Archaic
9.9

A large black and white bear that eats bamboo

is the standard neutral descriptive name rather than this less common variant

Surface Forms

panda bear singular
panda bears plural

Morphology

panda + bear

The compound 'panda bear' is directly built from 'panda' + 'bear' and refers to the kind of bear known as a panda; a learner who knows both constituents will readily infer it denotes that specific animal. The phrase is referential and non-idiomatic, with similar transparent constructions in many languages, so it is immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Panda bear probably comes from a local word meaning 'bamboo eater', and English speakers added bear when they saw the black-and-white animal. That's why the name points to both what it eats and that it looks like a bear.