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”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔːnə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːnə
• Hyphenation: fau‧na
• Homophone: fawner (non-rhotic)

fauna (countable and uncountable, plural faunae or faunas or faunæ)

1. (uncountable) Animals considered as a group; especially those of a particular country, region, time. [from late 18th c.]

   the flora and fauna

   • 1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 199:

     Japanese waters also support a rich and diverse shark fauna, including the smallest known shark Squaliolus laticaudus, and the bizarre goblin shark, Mitsukurina owstoni.

2. (countable) A book, cataloguing the animals of a country.

• Usage is rare outside of the phrase flora and fauna.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈfaw.nə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈfaw.na]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

• Homophone: faune
• Rhymes: -awna, -awnə

fauna f (plural faunes)

1. fauna

Borrowed from Russian фауна (fauna), from Latin Fauna.

fauna (accusative faunanı, plural faunalar)

1. (rare) fauna

   Synonym: (more common) ayvanat

• Mirjejev, V. A.; Usejinov, S. M. (2002), Ukrajinsʹko-krymsʹkotatarsʹkyj slovnyk [Ukrainian – Crimean Tatar Dictionary]‎^[1], Simferopol: Dolya, →ISBN
• “fauna”, in Luğatçıq (in Russian)

• IPA^(key): [ˈfau̯na]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: fau‧na

fauna f

1. fauna

   Synonyms: zvířena, živočišstvo

• flóra

• “fauna”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “fauna”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “fauna”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

From Latin fauna, from Fauna.

fauna c (singular definite faunaen, plural indefinite faunaer)

1. fauna

   Synonym: dyreverden

   Antonym: flora

• megafauna
• smådyrsfauna

• zoologi

• “fauna” in Den Danske Ordbog

Borrowed from Latin fauna.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɑu̯.naː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: fau‧na
• Rhymes: -ɑu̯naː

fauna f (plural fauna's, no diminutive)

1. fauna, the animal life inhabiting an area
2. a book describing the animal life in a region

• flora

• → Indonesian: fauna

Learned borrowing from New Latin fauna.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɑu̯nɑ/, [ˈfɑ̝u̯nɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -ɑunɑ
• Syllabification^(key): fau‧na
• Hyphenation^(key): fau‧na

fauna

1. fauna

• “fauna”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[2] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2 July 2023

From Dutch fauna, from New Latin fauna, from Latin Fauna, sister of Faunus (“god of forests and herdsmen”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₂w-.

• IPA^(key): [ˈfau̯na]
• Hyphenation: fau‧na

fauna (plural fauna-fauna)

1. fauna:
   1. (zoology) animals considered as a group; especially those of a particular country, region, time
   2. (zoology) a book, cataloguing the animals of a country

• “fauna”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

• IPA^(key): /ˈfaw.na/
• Rhymes: -awna
• Hyphenation: fàu‧na

fauna f (plural faune)

1. fauna

From Latin Fauna (“Roman goddess”).

fauna m (definite singular faunaen, indefinite plural faunaer, definite plural faunaene)

1. fauna

• “fauna” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Latin Fauna (“Roman goddess”).

fauna m (definite singular faunaen, indefinite plural faunaer or faunaar, definite plural faunaene or faunaane)

1. fauna

• “fauna” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfaw.na/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -awna
• Syllabification: fau‧na
• Homophone: Fauna

Learned borrowing from New Latin fauna.

fauna f (related adjective fauniczny)

1. fauna (animals considered as a group)

   Antonym: flora

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

fauna m pers

1. genitive/accusative singular of faun

• fauna in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• fauna in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• fauna in PWN's encyclopedia

Learned borrowing from Latin fauna.

• Audio (Brazil (Caipira)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -awnɐ
• Hyphenation: fau‧na

fauna f (plural faunas)

1. fauna (set of animal species that characterize a region or period)
2. (derogatory) crew, crowd (group of people who frequent a certain place, with characteristic or marginal attitudes)

• “fauna”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “fauna”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “fauna”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from Latin fauna.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfauna/ [ˈfau̯.na]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -auna
• Syllabification: fau‧na

fauna f (plural faunas)

1. fauna
   • 2008, Horacio Quiroga (introduction by Ana Alcolea), Cuentos de la selva para los niños:

     los humanos caza peces con dinamita y destruyen toda la fauna del río

     the humans are fishing with dynamite and destroying all the river's fauna

• “fauna”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

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