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fauna

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fauna¹

  • /ˈfɔːnə/

Sounds like fawner (non-rhotic) · Rhymes with -ɔːnə

Where it comes from

Borrowed from New Latin fauna, from Latin Fauna, sister of Faunus (“god of forests and herdsmen”); akin to Ancient Greek θαῦνον (thaûnon, “wild animal, beast”), θώς (thṓs, “jackal, wild dog; panther”), Phrygian δάος (dáos, “wolf”).

noun faunae · faunas · faunæ

  1. uncountable Animals considered as a group; especially those of a particular country, region, time, biological group, etc. the flora and fauna
  2. countable A particular group of animals as distinguished from another. More than this, at least twenty genera, which are common to New Guinea and Aru, do not extend into Ceram, indicating with a force which every naturalist will appreciate, that the two latter countries have received their faunas in a radically different manner.
  3. countable A book cataloguing the animals of a country.

Fauna²

Where it comes from

Feminine form of Faunus.

Some refer it to Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₂w-, whence Ancient Greek θαῦνον (thaûnon, “beast”), Illyrian-related Daunus. Some refer it to faveō.

proper noun Fatua · Fenta Fauna

  1. Roman The goddess of animals, nature, spring and fertility; she is also the consort of Faunus.
  2. A female given name from Latin.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: animal, creature, beast, brute, animate being, wildlife, flora, habitat, species, wilderness, mwa, wild, faune, life, game, faun

Translations

Every language

noun animals considered as a group

Españolfauna
日本語動物相 dōbutsusō
中文動物群 /动物群 dòngwùqún, 動物區系 /动物区系 dòngwù qūxì
हिन्दीप्राणिजात prāṇijāt
Portuguêsfauna
Françaisfaune
DeutschFauna, Tierreich, Tierwelt
Italianofauna
Ελληνικάπανίδα panída
Românăfaună, regnul animal
Русскийфа́уна fáuna, живо́тный мир živótnyj mir

noun a book, cataloging the animals of a country etc.

Españolfauna
日本語動物誌 dōbutsushi
中文動物誌 /动物志 dòngwùzhì
Françaisfaune
Русскийфа́уна fáuna

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Cite this
MLA

"fauna." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/fauna. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

fauna. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/fauna

Chicago

"fauna." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/fauna.

BibTeX
@misc{fauna_2026,
  title = {fauna},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/fauna},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}