50+ Words That Describe Animals (Including Humans)

50+ Words That Describe Animals (Including Humans) 50+ Words That Describe Animals (Including Humans) 50+ Words That Describe Animals (Including Humans) By Mark Nichol As much as many humans have tried to deny, or have conveniently ignored, that Homo sapiens is just another species of fauna, writers readily use animals or their (sometimes supposed) characteristics to describe people. Words like catty, dogged, foxy, and slothful all attest to the vivid imagery that easily arises when we compare people to various other species. In addition, we speak and write of somebody eating like a bird (to refer to light gustatory habits, though many birds seem downright voracious if you watch them dining), drinking like a fish, or behaving like a bull in a china shop. Some idioms, however, contradict each other, such as â€Å"Work like a dog† and â€Å"(living) a dog’s life.† Simple adjectives such as those in the first paragraph are more useful for narrative descriptions of people than the idiomatic phrases just above, but Latinate terms for animals can be even more helpful in describing people. Among the examples below, some, such as those for references to dogs (â€Å"canine loyalty†) and cats (â€Å"feline grace†), are perhaps too ubiquitous to be effective. Asinine, on the other hand, is more recognizable as a term to describe a human characteristic than in its original usage (in this case, to refer to a donkey), which might spoil it for literary allusion. Yet others, such as anguine, a word for a snake, may be too obscure to be helpful (though its synonyms serpentine and viperine are rich in descriptive force). And how about using taurine to describe a glowering bruiser, or lupine for a predatory lothario, or vulpine for a cunning schemer? You might even go out on an evolutionary limb and use pavonine to refer to a male fashion plate. (Your readers can always look it up.) Alternatively, give your humorous novel a Dickensian flair with a rapacious Mr. Selachian, a harridan named Mrs. Soricine, or a prickly or sharp-tongued person dubbed Miss Hystricine or Master Vespa. If nothing else, simply employ the terms below as inspirations for drawing, in words, your fictional characters or nonfictional subjects: acciptrine (falcon, hawk) anatine, anserine (goose) anguine, colubrine, elapine, serpentine, viperine (snake) apic, apian, apiarian (bee) aquiline (eagle) arachnine, arachnoid (spider) asinine (donkey) batrachian, ranine (frog, toad) bovine (cow, bison) cancrine (crab) canine (dog) caprine (goat) cervine (deer, elk, moose) cetacean, cetaceous (whale) corvine (crow) cygnine (swan) delphine (dolphin, porpoise) dipterous (fly) elephantine, proboscine, proboscidean (elephant) equine (horse) eusuchian (alligator) feline (cat) formic, myrmecine (ant) galline (chicken) gastropodian (snail) helminthic, vermian (worm) larine (gull) leporine, leverine (hare, rabbit) lupine (wolf) murine (mouse, rat) musteline (badger, ferret, weasel) noctillionine, pteropine (bat) ostracine (oyster) otarine, phocine (seal) ovine (sheep) passerine (bird) pavonine (peacock) pieridine, pierine (butterfly) piscine (fish) porcine (pig) sciurine (squirrel) scyphozoan (jellyfish) simian (ape, monkey) soricine (shrew) taurine (bull) testudine (tortoise) ursine (bear) vespine (wasp, hornet) vituline (calf) vulpine (fox) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 English Grammar Rules You Should Know16 Misquoted QuotationsList of 50 Compliments and Nice Things to Say!