The prefixailuro- does mean cat, in much the same way that the word “felis” means cat.
But I’m not enough of a pedant to try to argue the point though – in our crazy, anything goes modern world, people use whole words in place of prefixes all the time, and that’s okay: languages change! Just like ailuro- used to be Greek, and then got pulled into Latin! 😆
![New Words of Wonder [INCIDENTAL COMICS]](https://lemmus.org/pictrs/image/3212d32b-5d3e-462d-aeb3-bf69fefa8452.webp){kind=link}
Not a felinophile?
Yep, this had me confused because Ailuropoda is the panda family.
FWIW the suffix -poda means “feet.” So the panda family’s name literally translates as “cat-like-feet”! 🐱 🦶
Wow! My mind, if not blown has been somewhat stirred by this information.
I mean red pandas are pretty cat like.
The prefix ailuro- does mean cat, in much the same way that the word “felis” means cat.
But I’m not enough of a pedant to try to argue the point though – in our crazy, anything goes modern world, people use whole words in place of prefixes all the time, and that’s okay: languages change! Just like ailuro- used to be Greek, and then got pulled into Latin! 😆
I guess it makes sense to use Latin in scientific names given how redundant it is.