means a large, powerful wild cat native to Africa and parts of Asia, where males sport a distinctive mane and prides hunt cooperatively.

from From Latin 'leo' (genitive 'leonis'), which came from Greek 'leon' — and the Greeks likely borrowed it from somewhere further east, possibly a Semitic or even older Near Eastern source, since lions roamed those lands long before the word reached Europe. It padded into English through Old French 'lion', and the same root prowls through names like Leo and Leonard ('lion-bold').