Questions tagged [animals]
Questions about terms for animals and their accoutrements
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How to describe how a cat looks when groomed?
What is a word to describe how a cat looks when it's groomed?
My husband described it as nappy, which I don't think would be the correct word. To give an image of what I am trying to describe, think ...
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Is there a word for discrimination at a level higher than species?
Richard Ryder coined the term speciesism to describe discrimination on grounds of species. This is concept is explored by Peter Singer in Animal Liberation Now and described by nature:
Singer rests ...
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Do animals have "gender"?
Studying animals in biology can we use gender instead of sex? Even native English authors use gender in articles in case of animals. Is it correct?
Examples:
Gender-Based Differences in Rats after ...
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Looking for a word for animals that defecate anywhere
There is a word for animals like horses and cows that defecate wherever they happen to be when the need strikes them, versus animals like dogs and cats that seek out one place or another to do their ...
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Another name for Plants [closed]
Can I write 'blood-lacking living beings' instead of just plainly writing 'plants'? P.S: I have this assignment where creative names are appreciated!
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Referring to animal sounds and such by meaning rather than sound?
Is there a word/phrase/such for referring to the noises of animals while categorizing them by meaning, rather than what they sound like? The words shouldn't refer to the sound at all. Preferably it ...
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What term describes something "alive" with a "brain"?
What term describes something "alive" with a "brain"?
Plants are considered 'living' but without a brain, so alive or life don't work.
Fish have brains, jellyfish don't.
For my ...
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What is the animal adjective relating to tegu lizards (salvatorine, tupinambine etc.)?
If I were to go on a "corvine extermination expedition," we would understand an intent to exterminate crows, of genus corvus. The invasive tegu lizards in Florida are subject to such ...
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What's a word for a person being fed on by a blood sucking animal?
I am looking for a word that means "The one being fed on by an animal"
For example, if a mosquito or leech is sucking someone's blood, what is the best word for this person? Suckee? Victim? ...
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Where, when, and how did the term 'dogie' for 'orphan calf' originate?
Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary (2003) has this brief entry for the word dogie:
dogie n {origin unknown} (1888) chiefly West : a motherless calf in a range herd
In seeking an ...
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Is it correct to refer to Canadian geese?
The Canada goose is a migratory species which lives in northern parts of the northern hemisphere - including the Arctic, as well as temperate regions of North America and northern Europe. In winter we ...
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Does "pig" (fat animal) come from the Latin "pinguedo" (fat)?
Does "pig" (fat animal) come from the Latin pinguedo (fat)?
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Is there an adjective for deer-like?
"Canine" is for dog, "Porcine" for pig, "Equine" for horse. Is there an adjective for deer-like?
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Is there a term for horses with white inside the legs?
More specifically than the question title: Is there any traditional word in English for the color pattern of a black horse with white on the inside of the legs? I mean just the inside, so it is not ...
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Why do lion, tiger, panther, and leopard have female forms (lioness, tigress, pantheress, leopardess), but jaguar, puma, cheetah, and cougar don't?
Lion, tiger, panther, and leopard have female forms: lioness, tigress, pantheress, leopardess, but jaguar, puma, cheetah, and cougar don't.
Jagress? Pumess? Cheetess? Cougress? Those aren't words.
Is ...
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Is there a generic word for young livestock?
So I am looking for a generic word for calf, lamb, chick, kid, etc.
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Is a "camelopard" part-camel, part-leopard or part-camel, part-pard?
I'm honestly not sure if this belongs more on Mythology.SE, but I think it's (just) more of an etymology question.
The English word 'giraffe' derives from the Arabic word zarāfah (زرافة) which ...
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Using singular "they" for an animal
As I know, animals can be called "he" or "she" (not only "it").
Also, if a person's gender is unknown, we may use "they" instead of "he" or "she&...
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Definite Article and no Article with Animal Groups
I've encountered two sentences:
— Dogs make good family pets.
and
The main source of food for the Hippo is the short grass.
My question is:
Why do we use the plural form of 'dogs' with no ...
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Word for "mid-sized wild mammalian land animal," equivalent to Sanskrit "mṛga."
I am looking for an English translation for the Sanskrit word mṛga. This word refers to wild animals that are somewhat below the top of the food chain. The archetypical mṛga is a deer. They are ...
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Illustrating "vicious", "rapacious", "ferocious" and "voracious"
As a non-native speaker who grew up in an area without dangerous animals, I find myself confused by the distinctions between these words:
vicious
rapacious
ferocious - example
voracious
In the ...
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Historical English word for raw meat
Are there any words for raw meat?
This can mean raw fermented meat, raw cultured meat, raw fresh meat, raw high meat, raw spoiled meat.
And can include specific types of meat, such as poultry, pork, ...
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Do wild animals really "appear" in the night?
(I've attempted to post this several times in the "biology" category, but they keep harassing me and closing it as "off-topic" even though it couldn't be more on-topic, and the only other category I ...
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Is cow ever the plural of cow?
I was thinking about ruminants, as you do, and I noticed that, unlike with sheep or deer, cows is the plural of cow. I started wondering why, then it occurred to me that maybe there were dialects that ...
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Why is "the tail/house of the dog" correct, but "the bowl of the dog" not?
Upd.: I added the results of Ngram at the ending of this post.
I have some sources below which I can make the next conclusions from:
"the bowl of the dog" is incorrect
"the house of the dog" is ...
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Term for maladaptive animal behavior that will lead to their demise?
Moths to a flame.
Is there a term for such a behavior?
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Muzzle or not? What would you call this thing? [closed]
What would you call this in English?
What's this white thing on cat's or rabbit's muzzle? Or is this a muzzle itself? Would it be right to say, "This is a head with a white muzzle?"
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Schools and Shoals
School, as a group of fish, entered Middle English:
late Middle English: from Middle Low German, Middle Dutch schōle, of West Germanic origin; related to Old English scolu ‘troop’. (NOAD)
Shoal, ...
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PETA wants workers to “bring home the bagels”
On December 4, the animal rights organization, PETA, asked anglophone speakers (in the US) to quit using anti-animal idioms cold turkey. In a Tweet they proselytized:
Words matter, and as our ...
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What is the word to describe a bird organizing its feathers?
Which verb most accurately and commonly describes a bird's daily behavior to make its feathers clean and organized.
"organize" its feathers
"brush" its feathers
"clean" its feathers?
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He, she, it with animals [closed]
When I want to write the story about little puppy, I have found on the street, should I use it or other gender?
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Specialized term for pig excrement? [closed]
Horse manure, cow dung, bear scat, chicken droppings... Many animals have special words for their poo. I can't remember one for pigs though, even though they're a pretty significant species for us.
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Verb for when cats meow other than meow itself
If
a dog barks "woof" (or some other variation)
a frog croaks "ribbit"
is there a verb for when cats "meow" other than "meow" itself?
I am specifically looking for a word that is usually only ...
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What would you call the distinction between e.g. 'cow'/'beef', 'pig'/'pork'? [closed]
I'm looking for a term to denote the distinction between the name of an animal when it's alive, and the name of the same animal when it serves as food. If such a term exists, I imagine it belongs to ...
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If an animal is not a predator (e.g. a herbivore), but has nothing that eats it, what is it called? [duplicate]
Most animals I have heard of, such as killer whales, great white sharks, and other apex predators are, well, predators. But what would you call an apex non-predator?
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General verb for animal making sound
English language has different verbs for different species of animals making sound, many are onomatopoeias. But is there a general verb that can be applied to an unnamed animal? e.g., can I say "I ...
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Single word for the animal action of bending down [closed]
I'm looking for a single word to describe the bending-down motion that animals such as camels or elephants do to allow riders/passengers to more easily mount them.
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What would you call this fenced training area for horses? [closed]
What would you call this fenced area used for training horses?
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A single word for non-domesticated animals that live among humans?
Is there a specific, single-word adjective for animals that live among human beings but are not pets, livestock, or work animals? Examples would be insect pests living in a house, like cockroaches or ...
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Is there an idiom/proverb about stray dogs?
I somewhere read a line about the relationship of two people. I'm looking for the exact words. It was something about one being like a stray dog, that you hate him, but you feed him because you think ...
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The balled (headed) eagle?
Now I observe you staring upward and puzzling your wits to guess what great bird it is you see wheeling aloft over our heads. That, Sir, is the type, symbol, and adopted emblem of our nation, the BALD ...
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How to describe an animal lover who is against pet ownership
Is there a particular term or a set of words used to describe someone who loves animals but is against humans owning them as pets? I am looking for a neutral or positive term.
I was having serious ...
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Is there a term for an animal that died of a disease?
In Russian animals that died of a disease can be translated as fallen animals e.g. fallen sheep.
Is there a similar term in English?
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Meaning of the word “cajoling” when applied to dairy cattle?
I am a German scientist and I read the term cajoling in a scientific paper. It is meant to be a sign for oestrus in dairy cattle, but I am not able to find a suitable translation or explanation. So ...
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Pluralization of species names
Can you please guide me should we pluralize "painted stork" and "black-tailed godwits" in this sentence? Is there any rule regarding the names of species?
Like which sentence makes ...
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When did animal sounds get codified?
Every kindergartner knows that a sheep says baa, a cow says moo, a cat says meow and a goat says maa. But this is just in English. In other languages, they say other things.
When did animal sounds ...
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Word that means non-human animals?
Humans are animals.
The term "animals" is sometimes used to mean all animals (including humans) and is sometimes used to mean every animal except for humans.
Is there a word that means non-human ...
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Word for flying, stinging/biting insects
Today an insect was flying around me and my family but I wasn't sure what type of insect it was. I could tell from the noise that the wings were making while it was flying that it was some type of bee ...
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Is there a gender neutral term for a single animal of the Bovine species?
A single female is a cow
A single male is a bull
A castrated male is a steer
An unbred female is a heifer
A juvenile is a calf
All of those terms can be pluralized according to normal conventions....
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Origin of "moke," used in the mildly derogatory term "you lil' moke"
Does anyone know the origins of this term? I have only managed to track one reference to it. I heard it from my Granny who was Romani. The Online Etymology Dictionary has this short entry:
moke (n.)...
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