Naming and etymology

Naming and एत्य्मोलोग्य

The word "tiger" is taken from the Greek word "tigris", which is possibly derived from a Persian source meaning "arrow", a reference to the animal's speed and also the origin for the name of the Tigris river.[10][11] In American English, "tigress" was first recorded in 1611. It was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus in his 18th century work, Systema Naturae: he called it Felis tigris.[3][12] The generic component of its scientific designation, Panthera tigris, is often presumed to derive from Greek pan- ("all") and theron ("beast"), but this may be a folk etymology. Although it came into English through the classical languages, panthera is probably of Indian origin, meaning "the yellowish animal", or "whitish-yellow".[13]

Tigers rarely form groups (see below), but the collective nouns applied when they do are either "ambush" or "streak".