I’m in a bit of an animal rut groove the last couple weeks. I found this neat link to animal adjectives, most of which I never heard of. But it’s the familiar ones that got me thinking about how some of them get applied to people, sort of a reverse anthropomorphism.
These definitions come from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. They are in addition to “having the characteristics of” said animal.
aquiline – curving like an eagle’s beak (an aquiline nose)
elephantine – having enormous size or strength: massive; clumsy, ponderous (elephantine verse)
feline (cat) – sleekly graceful; sly, treacherous; stealthy
porcine – overweight to the extent of resembling a pig
Don’t you think ALBERT Einstein (hey, an A word) looks rather leonine in this photograph? (Or is it that the noble lion is looking Einsteinesque?)
bovine – having qualities (as placidity or dullness) characteristic of oxen or cows
ursine (bear) – (a lumbering ursine gait)
serpentine – subtly wily or tempting; winding or turning one way and another (a serpentine road); having a compound curve whose central curve is convex
reptilian – cold-bloodedly treacherous (a reptilian villain — Theodore Dreiser)
(Why does a quite provocative Paula ABDUL video – yet another A – suddenly come to mind?)
canine (dog) – a conical pointed tooth; especially one situated between the lateral incisor and the first premolar [OK, that was a cheat]
I discovered that some of the words on the adjective list don’t show up in Merriam-Webster at all, such as troglodytine. Words such as hircine and limacine generate a message such as this:
Limacine, it turns out, isn’t in the free Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, where you just searched.
However, it is available in our premium Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary. To see that definition in the Unabridged Dictionary, start your FREE trial now.
Fortunately, there is Wordnik, which has all of these words:
troglodytine -Resembling or having the characters of wrens, or Troglodytinæ (doesn’t this sound prehistoric?)
hircine – Of or characteristic of a goat, especially in strong odor.
limacine – Of, relating to, or resembling a slug.
The Wordnix definitions tend to be more complete, in large part because it pulls from multiple sources, including something called the Century Dictionary. While M-W says of asinine, “extremely or utterly foolish (an asinine excuse)”, Wordnik says, “stupid; obstinate; obtrusively silly; offensively awkward.”
Many of the prefixes match the animal’s scientific names, such as “a slug of the subfamily Limacinæ or family Limacidæ.”
I KNEW I should have studied Latin or Greek.
(Confidential to Lisa: THIS post.)
It’s amazing how many animal descriptions are used to describe us, in every way imaginable.
Great post as always, Roger! By golly that lion and Einstein do look a lot alike — even the expression! Guess we’re more like animals than we like to admit! Thanks for being a team member! Fun participating with you! Have a wonderful week!
Sylvia
Nice one, and you must be alone here (though the lion shown here is a female and Albert most definitely was a male…) 🙂
RuneE – You’re right of course, but the male lion mane didn’t work as well visually.
Fascinating to find so many words related to animals! You are very clever!
Got a chuckle with your post! F\Great post for A – will have to remember some of these adjectives!
Oh, Roger!
I just love this post! I have been interested in animal-words for weeks now!
I am glad that you reminded me of Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary. Silly me; that I haven’t been using it for this meme. It’s such a heavy book!
Best wishes,
Anna
A is for Anna!
Lovely selection of adjectives, Roger. They’re words that roll off the tongue – a joy to pronounce as well as to think about. I wish I’d learnt Latin and/or Greek too!
Great Post…this a a wonderful lesson in adjectives and animals…now you have me thinking on writing something with those words….blessings..bkm
My goodness, I never really gave that much thought before. What a fascinating post. Thanks for all the research.
Kalimera! I have actually studied both Greek and Latin. But I can barely write in English! *laughter*. I read a little Latin when I was young, and Greek course was just a bit of vacation needs.
But here you can learn a lot, I understand, interesting and fun.
(I´m late with my comments, here it´s tuesday afternoon. I didn´t realise that you started so soon, sorry. It won´t happen again.)
Great to be part of your team!
Annelie, ABC Wednesday
Of course, you know you’ve peaked EVERYONE’S curiosity about the confidential note to Lisa!
What a great array of animal adjectives! So obscure-I wonder who uses some of them (especially the reference to smelling like a goat or have a nose like a sparrow’s beak).
I always learn something new here in Roger’s corner!
I KNEW IT! I wondered if this was it as soon as I started reading. Great way to sneak in a bunch of non-A words today. Love it.
I LOVE limacine. I must find a reason to use it soon.
I like the word limacine. For some reason it reminds me of slimy. Don’t know why.
Oh my word, who would have thought there could be so many Adjectives about Animals.. I think I’ll put my tail between my legs and get on home.
A very unique take on our A-Day! Loved reading these adjectives!
Do you get extra Scrabble points for using words from the PREMIUM Merriam-Webster dictionary? Better start your free trial! 🙂
Wonderful imaginative adjectives, – can’t you just see them in your mind’s eye, applied to someone that you know.
Albert really does look like a lion in that picture. A handsome lion!
So excited to see where Round 7 takes you : )
Lion and Einstein. What fun! I took Latin for a long, long time but hardly anyone speaks it anymore. 🙂
Excellent A post- if I could remember these words when writing, I’d be thrilled!
How fun, I felt like I was in a classroom. You are a wonderful teacher. When is the homework due!
I recognize some because of their latin roots…(Spanish is my first language), very interesting take on the theme. Einstein looks very leonine indeed. It is the mane!!
A is for aerial
BTW , my burglar story was partly made up by me. The end was not true.
Sorry…
Hahaha…yeah right..the lion and Einstein have the same smile. lol
My favorite is vulpine, though I doubt if describing a pretty lady thus would go down too well.
that was interesting
A wonderful selection of words which certainly add to the language. Must be useful to know a bit of Latin.
Oh, what a good idea! Love them! And educational, too. 😉
Those are certainly some different words – there must be one for every animal. Cool!
you do have a way with words Roger!
I have to admit I came to visit because of the lion photo, before I realized it was you, Roger. I think Einstein and the lion definitely have some features that resemble one another. By the way I learned Latin and Greek and it only helps in spelling! Down here near the Mexican border, I should have learned Spanish — MUCH more useful.
Darn! I thought I knew the definition of hircine. WRONG. Good to know though because I really love the way it sounds.
Interesting! I wonder what the connection is between “troglodytine” and “troglodyte,” meaning “cave-dweller.” Do wrens live in caves? I didn’t think so, but I really have no idea.
I guess as a librarian, you know a lot of stuff. Great sharing.
There is so much to learn from words – I use to love exploring with the children i taught – fun!
Thanks Roger as ever a wonderful contribution.
i’m sort of a lion type.. wonder what’s the adjective for that.. 🙂 i liked this.. lot to learn.. knew bovine though..
Annelie- Tuesday p.m. is NOT late
Molokai Girl – Lisa had done a post 3 or 4 weeks ago that triggered this one
Reader Wil- no apology needed
Megan – was thinking the same thing. Birds are descendents of dinosaurs, but still don’t get it.
Leo -HA!
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