The English language contains some colorful terms of venery, the words that signify collective noun for specific groups of animals. Some animals even have several terms to denote different conditions of the group formation, as is the case not just for tigers but for others in the list below:
Ambush - a group of tigers lying in wait for their prey (also streak and hide)
Army - group of frogs or ants referencing the way they move (also colony for both and knot for frogs)
Arrangement - a group of elephant seals (also herd and pack)
Array - a group of hedgehogs
Badling - a group of ducks (also paddling, plump, raft)
Bale - a group of turtles
Band - a group of gorillas (also shrewdness and troop) or hares (also down, drove, flick, herd, husk or huske, leap, and trip)
Bank - a group of Komodo Dragons also swans when gathered on the ground (see bevy)
Barren - a group of four mules
Bask - a group of crocodiles
Ballet - a group of swans when swimming (also bevy, drift, eyrar; the group can also be called a flock, game herd, lamentation, swonder, squadron, team, or whiting; flight when flying and wedge when flying in a V formation)
Battery - a group of barracudas
Bellowing - a group of bullfinches
Bevy - a group of deer (also herd, bunch, parcel or rangale) or swans when swimming (also ballet, drift, eyrar, flock game, herd, lamentation, sownder, squadron, team, and whiting; flight for swans in flight and wedge when flying in V formation)
Bivouac - a group of butterflies at rest (also kaleidoscope, rabble, flutter)
Bloat - a group of hippopotami (also pod or thunder)
Brace - a group of birds (also flock, flight, volary), also a pair of hares (for general group of hare: band, down, drove, flick, herd, husk or huske, leap, and trips)
Bunch - a group of deer (also bevy, herd, parcel rangale)
Business or Busyness- a group of ferrets (also cast, pack, feynes, fesnyng)
Cackle - a group of hyena (also pack)
Cast - a group of crabs (also consortium) or ferrets (also business, busyness pack, fesynes, fesyny pack) or hawks (also leash for merlins)
Cete - a group of badgers (also clan and colony)
Charm - a group of hummingbirds or finch (also quiver)
Clan - a group of badgers (also cete and colony)
Clattering - a group of jackdaws (also flock)
Clowder - a group of cats (also clutter, pounce and glaring)
Clutter - a group of cats (also clowder, pounce and glaring)
Coalition - a group of cheetahs
Colony - a group of badgers (also cete and clan), bats, birds (also brace, flight, flock, volary) rabbits, beavers (also lodge), ants or frogs referencing the way they live in large group
Company- a group of parrots (also pandemonium)
Confusion - a group of guineafowl or wildebeests
Congregation - a group of alligators
Congress - a group of lemur (also conspiracy, plot)
Consortium - a group of crabs (also cast)
Conspiracy - a group of lemur (also congress, plot) and ravens (also flock, rave, treachery, unkindness, and murder --due to the ravens being mistaken for crows)
Convocation - a group of eagles
Court - a group of kangaroos
Crash - a group of rhinoceroses (also herd and stubbornness)
Crowd - a group of porpoises (also gam, herd, pod, school, shoal, turmoil)
Dazzle - a group of zebras (also zeal and herd)
Den - a group of snakes
Descent - a group of woodpeckers
Dray - a group of squirrels (also scurry)
Drove - group of cattle or any animals driven or moving in a body also a group of hares (see band)
Escargatoire - a group of snails (also rout, walk)
Fesnyng or fesynes - a group of ferrets (also cast, business, busyness, pack)
Flamboyance - a group of flamingos (also regiment)
Flight - a group of birds (also brace, colony, flock, volary, and wedge for swans)
Flock – a group of birds (also brace, colony, flight, volary); the word is also applied to small, hooved animals like sheep and goats
Flutter- a group of butterflies (also bivouac, rabble, kaleidoscope)
Gaggle - a flock of geese
Gam - a group of whales or porpoises (also crowd, herd, pod, school, shoal, and turmoil, which is specific to porpoises)
Gang - a group of elk, buffalo, or turkey (also rafter, posse)
Harras - a group of horses (also team, stud, rag, string)
Herd – a group of herbivore animals, including elephants (also memory), deer, antelope, and buffalo (also gang and obstinacy), rhinoceroses (also crash and stubbornness), birds like swans, and sea mammals like porpoises
Hide - a group of tigers hiding in the shadows (also ambush and streak)
Horde - a group of crows (also mob, muster, murder parcel)
Husk and huske - a group of hares (als0 bando down, drove, flick, herd, leap, trip and brace for two and leash for three)
Implausibility - a group of gnu
Intrigue - a group of kittens (also kindle and litter)
Kaleidoscope - a group of butterflies (also flutter, bivouac, rabble)
Kennel - group of domestic dogs*
Kettle - a group of vultures circling in the air, perched in trees or on the ground they're called a venue.
Kindle - a group of kittens (also intrigue and litter) or hares (also band, down, flick, herd, husk or huske, leap, and trip)
Knob - a group of waterfowl
Knot - a group of toads or frogs (also army or colony for frogs)
Labor - a group of moles
Leap - a group of leopards (also prowl)
Leash - a group of three hares (also see band and brace)
Litter - a group of mammals born in numbers larger than pairs, including kittens, puppies, rodents, etc. (There are some more specific groups for types like intrigue or kindle for kittens.)
Lodge - a group of beavers (also colony)
Lounge - a group of lizards
Memory - a group of elephants (also herd)
Mess - a group of iguanas
Mob – a group of kangaroos (also troop and court) or crows (also horde, murder muster, parcel)
Muddle - a group of guinea pigs
Murder - a group of magpies or crows (also horde, mob, muster, or parcel), also applied to ravens who have been mistaken for crows (more precise terms for crows include: conspiracy, flock, rave, treachery, and unkindness)
Murmuration - a group of starlings
Mustering - a group of storks (flight and phalanx terms applied to when they're in flight), crows (also horde, mob, murder or parcel) or peafowl (also ostentation and pride)
Obstinacy - a group of buffalo (also gang)
Ostentation - a group of peafowl AKA peacocks (also mustering and pride)
Pace - a group of asses
Pack – a group of mules used for transporting goods, hyenas (also cackle, clan), elephant seals (also arrangement and herd), ferrets (also business, busyiness, fesnyg fesynes), coyotes, wolves, or dogs (also kennel for dogs)
Paddling - a group of ducks (also badling, plump, raft)
Pandemonium - a group of parrots (also company)
Parcel - a small group of deer (also see bevy, bunch herd, rangale) or or crows (also horde, mob, muster)
Parliament - a group of owls
Passel - a group of of opossums
Phalanx - a group of storks
Plump- a group of ducks (also badling, paddling, raft)
Plot - a group of lemur (also conspiracy, congress)
Pod - a group of porpoises (also gam, crowd, herd, school, shoal, turmoil) whales, dolphins, seals, or hippopotami (also boat or thunder)
Posse - a group of turkeys (also rafter, gang) and fireflies (also sparkle)
Pounce - a group of cats (also clowder)
Prickle - a group of porcupines
Pride - a group of lions, cheetahs, or peafowl AKA peacocks (also muster ingand ostentation)
Prowl - a group of leopards (also leap)
Quiver - a group of finch (also charm) cobras (related: den)
Rabble - a group of butterflies (also kaleidoscope, bivouac, flutter)
Raft - a group of otters or ducks (also badling, paddling, plumb)
Rafter - a group of turkeys (also posse, gang)
Rag - a group of horses (also team, harras, stud, string)
Rave- a group of ravens (also conspiracy, flock, treachery, unkindness, and murder --due to the ravens being mistaken for crows)
Rake - a group of three mules
Rangale - the rank and file, a term which also applies to the members of a group of deer in contradistinction to the Alpha leaders of the group
Regiment - a group of flamingos (also flamboyance)
Richness - a group of martens
Romp - a group of otters
Scurry - a group of squirrels
Sedge, Sege, or Siege - a group of heron
Shadow - a group of jaguars
Shoal or school – a group of fish and some sea mammals like purpoises
Shrewdness - a group of apes, gorillas (also band and troop)
Skulk - a group of foxes (also earth to describe a mother fox with her kits)
Sleuth - a group of bears Smack - a group of jellyfish (also brood)
Span - two mules
Sparkle - a group of fireflies (also posse)
Streak - a group of tigers running together (also ambush, hide)
String - a group of horses (also team, harras, stud, rag)
Stubbornness - a group of rhinoceroses (also crash and herd)
Surfeit - a group of skunks
Swarm - a group of insects
Team - a group of horses (also harras, stud, rag, string)
Thunder - a group of hippopotami (also bloat, pod)
Tower - a group of giraffes
Treachery - a group of ravens (also conspiracy, flock, rave, unkindness and murder --due to the ravens being mistaken for crows)
Troop - a group of kangaroos or apes (also band, shrewdness)
Troupe – a group of monkeys
Turmoil- a group of porpoises (also gam, crowd, herd, pod, school, shoa )
Unkindness - a group of ravens (also conspiracy, flock, rave, treachery, and murder --due to the ravens being mistaken for crows)
Venue - a group of vultures in a perched state; in flight they're called a kettle.
Volary - a group of birds (also also brace, colony, flock, flight)
Wisdom - a group of wombats
Zeal - a group of zebras (also dazzle and herd)
How many of these did you already know? Which ones were new to you? Any favorites among the group?
No comments:
Post a Comment