A Gaggle of Geese, a Pride of Lions, a School of Fish, and More Collective Animal Nouns

Do you ever refer to a gaggle of geese, a pride of lions, a school of fish? These are all collective nouns, which are names of a number (or collection) of people, animals, or things taken together and spoken of as one whole. There are hundreds of these nouns of multitude, including those for animals, many of which are deeply embedded in our language despite being several hundred years old. You may refer to a gaggle of geese, a litter of puppies, a flock of ducks, a pride of lions, a pack of wolves, or a murder of crows, but do you know whence they came? Join me today as we dive deep into these little bits of poetry.

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Listen to this Podcast Episode

Listen by clicking the play button below or by subscribing to the RSS feed or listening through iTunes, Stitcher, or Soundcloud.

Resources Mentioned in This Podcast

*An Exultation of Larks

*An Unkindness of Ravens

*Book of St. Albans

Collective Nouns for Animals

• An ambush of tigers
• An array of hedgehogs
• An army of ants/caterpillars/frogs
• An ascension of larks
• A badling of ducks
• A bale of turtles
• A ballet of swans
• A band of coyotes/gorillas/jays/men
• A barrel of monkeys
• A barren of mules
• A bask of crocodiles
• A battery of barracudas
• A bazaar of guillemots
• A bed of clams/eels/oysters/snakes
• A bevy of quail/roebucks/swans
• A bloat of hippos
• A bouquet of pheasants
• A brace of ducks/grouse
• A brood of chicks/hens/pheasants
• A building of rooks
• A bury of conies/rabbits
• A business of ferrets/flies
• A caravan of camels
• A cast of falcons/hawks
• A cete of badgers
• A chain of bobolinks
• A charm of falcons/finches/magpies
• A chattering of choughs
• A clamor of rooks
• A cloud of gnats/bats/grasshoppers
• A clowder of cats
• A cluster of bees/grasshoppers
• A clutch of chicks
• A clutter of cats/starlings
• A colony of ants/beavers/gulls/penguins/rabbits
• A company of parrots/widgeons
• A congregation of plover/people
• A congress of baboons
• A conspiracy of ravens
• A convocation of eagles
• A cover of coots
• A covey of grouse/partridges/pheasants/ptarmigans/quail
• A cowardice of curs
• A crash of rhinos
• A crowd of people
• A cry of hounds
• A culture of bacteria
• A deceit of lapwings
• A descent of woodpeckers
• A dissimulation of birds
• A dole of doves
• A down of hares
• A doylt of swine
• A draught of fish
• A dray of squirrels
• A drift of swine
• A dropping of pigeons
• A drove of cattle
• A drumming of grouse
• A dule of doves
• A durante of toucans
• An earth of foxes
• An exaltation of larks
• A fall of woodcocks
• A family of otter
• A fesnyng of ferrets
• A field of racehorses
• A flight of birds/butterflies/cormorants/doves/goshawks/swallows
• A flink of cows (12+)
• A float of crocodiles
• A flock of geese/lice/sheep
• A fluther of jellyfish
• A gaggle of geese
• A gam of whales
• A gang of buffalo/elk
• A gatling of woodpeckers
• A generation of vipers
• A grist of bees
• A gulp of cormorants/magpies
• A harras of horses
• A herd of buffaloes/curlews/elephants/horse/kangaroo/pigs/wrens
• A hide of tigers
• A hive of bees
• A horde of gnats
• A host of sparrows
• A hover of trout
• A hum of bees
• A husk of hares/jackrabbits
• An intrigue of kittens
• An intrusion of cockroaches
• A kennel of dogs
• A kettle of hawks
• A kindle of kittens
• A kine of cows
• A knot of snakes/toads
• A labour of moles
• A lamentation of swans
• A leap of hares/leopards
• A leash of foxes/greyhounds
• A litter of cubs/pigs/puppies
• A mask of raccoons
• A mob of kangaroos/emus
• A murder of crows/magpies
• A murmuration of starlings
• A muster of peacocks
• A mustering of storks
• A mutation of thrushes
• A mute of hounds
• An obstinacy of buffalo
• An ostentation of peacocks
• A muster of storks
• A mute of hounds
• A nest of hornets/mice/rabbits/vipers/wasps
• A nye/nide of pheasants
• A pace of asses
• A pack of hounds/rats/wolves
• A paddling of ducks
• A pair of horses
• A pandemonium of parrots
• A parade of elephants
• A parliament of owls/rooks
• A party of jays
• A passel/parcel of hogs
• A peep of chickens
• A piteousness of doves
• A pitying of turtledoves
• A pladge of wasps
• A plague of locusts
• A plump of waterfowl/wildfowl
• A pod of boar/dolphin/seals/walrus/whales
• A pounce of cats
• A prattle of parrots
• A prickle of hedgehogs/porcupines
• A pride of lions
• A quiver of cobras
• A rafter of turkeys
• A rag of colts
• A ramuda of horses
• A rhumba of rattlesnakes
• A richness of martens
• A romp of otters
• A rookery of penguins
• A rout of wolves
• A rumpus of baboons
• A run of poultry
• A rush of pochard
• A school of fish/porposes
• A scold of jays
• A sedge of cranes
• A shiver of sharks
• A shoal of bass/pilchards/shad
• A shrewdness of apes
• A siege of cranes/herons
• A singular of boars
• A skein of geese/pheasants
• A skulk of foxes/larks/quail
• A sleuth/sloth of bears
• A smack/smuth of jellyfish
• A sneak of weasels
• A sord of mallards
• A sounder of wild swine/boars/foxes
• A span of mules
• A spring of teal
• A squabble of seagulls
• A stand of flamingo
• A stench of skunks
• A streak of tigers
• A string of ponies/horses
• A stud of mares
• A swarm of ants/bees/eels
• A team of horses/ducks/oxen
• A swarm of bees
• A thunder of hippos
• A tiding of magpies
• A tittering of magpies
• A tok of capercaillie
• A totter/tower of giraffes
• A tribe of goats/monkeys/dotterel
• A trip of goats
• A troop of baboons/monkeys/kangaroos
• A turn of turtles
• An ubiquity of sparrows
• An unkindness of ravens
• A volary of birds
• A wake of buzzards/vultures
• A walk of snipe
• A warren of rabbits
• A watch of nightingales
• A wedge of geese/swans
• A wing of plovers
• A wisdom of owls
• A wisp of snipe
• A yoke of oxen

MY Short List of Collective Nouns for Animals (LIST YOURS BELOW!)

Enjoy my own made-up Nouns of Multitude, my Terms of Animalia, and I encourage you to submit your own in the comments below.

A CRADLE OF COWS

A LAP OF CATS

A CACOPHANY OF JAYS

A TRUST OF CHICKADEES

A HARASSMENT OF HUMMINGBIRDS

A SAGACITY OF DONKEYS

A GENIUS OF RAVENS

A BRILLIANCE OF CROWS

A GUARDIAN OF ELEPHANTS

A WONDER OF FOXES

A RUSE OF RACCOONS

A SWAGGER OF SKUNKS

A CELEBRATION OF ANIMALS

A SURVIVAL OF ANIMALS

A HARDSHIP OF ANIMALS

A SUFFERING OF ANIMALS

A HOPE OF ANIMALS

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