Etymology

cougar

cou·gar
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Today it means: A wild feline, of species Puma concolor, native to the Americas. Full definition →

French couguar ← Portuguese cuguardo ← Brazilian Portuguese suçuarana
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cougar · noun1

  1. Old Tupi · derived fromsûasuarana
  2. Brazilian Portuguese · derived fromsuçuarana
  3. Portuguese · derived fromcuguardo
  4. French · borrowed fromcouguar
  5. English todaycougar

From French couguar, from Portuguese cuguardo, a deformation of Brazilian Portuguese suçuarana (earlier çuçuarana), from Old Tupi sûasuarana.

Cougar · noun2

In reference to the Washington State Cougars, one of the university's sports teams.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.