Bizarre German Animal Names (B1) | 20+ Weird Words For Animals

Funny German animal names are far from few and far between. While we already have a post on German animal vocabulary in our vocabulary section, we thought that it would be fun to also give you a list of the funniest German animal names. (And once these tickle you, you'll find half of them turning up in our German animal idioms — Schwein, Affe, Kater, Bär and the rest of the menagerie.)

Have a look at this short list of funny German animal names:

Can you guess which animals they refer to? Click on the grey bars to reveal the English translation & the literal German meaning.

In this blog post, we'll introduce you to quite a few of these quirky animal names and explain what components those names are made up of. Enjoy!

Why Do German Animal Names Sound So Funny?

German loves to build compound words. A compound word often combines two or more words to describe what something looks like, or what it does.

This can make animal names very descriptive and very funny. For example, the German name for a sloth is das Faultier which literally means "lazy animal":

The Most Bizarre German Animal Names

Let's start our list with the most bizarre German animal names first.

1. Anteater (Nose Bear)

Let's start with the German word for bear, which is der Bär.

While it's debatable whether anteaters should be classified as a bears, what's definitely not up for discussion is that they have big noses. Really big noses 👃.

In this sense then, the name is as accurate as it's weird. Which makes it easy to remember. It also makes us wonder whether we shouldn't also consider renaming elephants to 'nose-rhinos' - or something like that?

2. Raccoon (Wash Bear)

Next is another Bär. Here, again, it's questionable whether raccoons can really be called bears. But one fact is true: they love to wash.

What do they love to wash? Hint: it's not themselves! If it were, the German word for cat would be Waschtiger 🐱.

The correct answer is that they wash their food before they eat it. That's where the German word for raccoon comes from!

3. Bat (Flutter Mouse)

4. Turkey (Threatening Rooster)

The word for turkey in German is "Truthahn".

Where this name comes from is not entirely clear, but one theory is that it comes from the middle high German word "droten", which means "to threaten", and is the root for the modern German word drohen.

If this is true, Truthahn literally means "threatening rooster" or "threatening chicken".

Most Germans would probably not know this, however, since most of them do not understand middle high German. We also didn't know before researching for this article!

5. Sloth (Lazy Animal)

6. Armadillo (Belt Animal)

7. Platypus (Beak Animal)

The German word for platypus is Schnabeltier, which literally translates as beak animal. It consists of the words der Schnabel and das Tier.

8. Skunk (Stink Animal)

9. Meerkat (Little Earth Man)

Literal translation: little earth man
Meaning: meerkat

10. Hippo (Nile Horse / River Horse)

Pigs Everywhere

11. Porcupine (Spiky Pig)

Now let's have a look at all the different animals that Germans view as pigs. The German word for pig is das Schwein. It's combined with the word for spike, which is der Stachel.

So the German word for 'porcupine' literally translates as 'spiky pig'. Another translation that would work is "pig with spikes".

In German, bees & scorpions have "spikes" (that they can sting you with) and the thorns of a rose can also sometimes be described as Stachel.

12. Capybara (Water Pig)

Could you have guessed that capybaras are called 'water pigs' in German? We find this one rather difficult to make sense of. Does it look like a pig? Well, a little bit. Does it live in the ocean or in lakes? No. But does it love water and swimming? Yes!

So there you go: das Wasserschwein

13. Guinea Pig (Ocean Pig)

The literal translation of guinea pig in German is "sea piggy" or "little sea pig" — "Meerschweinchen". Combining the words das Meer and das Schwein gives us "sea pig". But we have das Schweinchen here, and not just das Schwein.

What's the difference? What difference does the "-chen" make?

It's pretty easy: it's a diminutive. Adding "chen" to the end of a word cutifies it in German, hence ‘piggy’ instead of ‘pig’.

14. Dugong (Sea Pig)

Literal translation: sea pig
Meaning: dugong

Ok, this one is a sea animal whose name ends in "-schwein".

Funnily enough: Seeschweine 🐷 are technically Seekühe - which makes absolutely no sense (if you take these terms literally)!

Sea Animals

15. Squid (Ink Fish)

Literal translation: ink fish
Meaning: squid

16. Sperm Whale (Pot Whale)

The last sea animal on our list — and one of the most evocative German names of the lot.

17. Seal (Sea Dog)

As you probably know, the German word for dog is der Hund. The word See is a bit more tricky, as there are two different meanings, depending on the article. With the article der it means lake, with the article die it means sea.

In most animal names that include the word See (like Seehund, Seekuh, Seeschwein), it most likely refers back to die See.

So, the German word for seal, der Seehund literally translates as sea dog - not lake dog.

18. Turtle & Tortoise (Shield Toad)

The literal translation for turtle in German is "shield toad". The word Schildkröte consists of the words Schild & Kröte.

So in a very literal sense, Germans think of turtles as toads with armour.

Very strange. It makes sense though. I guess 😅

Naked Snails & Garbage Insects

19. Butterfly (Smashing Thing)

Literal translation: clashing thing
Meaning: butterfly

If you translate the German word for butterfly literally, you get something along the lines of "smashing thing". The ending -ling just turns it into a noun (Häuptling, Lehrling).

20. Slug (Naked Snail)

Literal translation: naked snail
Meaning: slug

21. Spider (Weaver)

22. Dung Beetle (Garbage Beetle)

Literal translation: garbage beetle
Meaning: dung beetle

That's it for now! Do you know any other German animals with funny names? Send us a message on Instagram or Twitter!

If you enjoyed these literal-compound animal names, you'll probably also enjoy our roundup of weird German words — many of which (Schweinehund, Backpfeifengesicht, Kummerspeck) follow exactly the same "two unlikely nouns smashed together" logic.