German Reptiles VocabularyFree Word List

Discover German reptiles vocabulary, from lizards, to crocodiles, to turtles.


Learning the vocabulary for German reptiles is fun: How hilarious is it, that turtles are just "toads with a shield" in German? While there are quite a few

funny German animal names and also some very quirky German animal idioms this post just focuses on the German names for reptiles.

German Reptiles Vocabulary

Let's dive right in! We'll start with lizards, move on to snakes and then tackle crocodiles & turtles.

Lizards

Lizards are a reptiles that can be found in a wide range of habitats around the world. Here is some German vocabulary for different kinds of lizards:

die Echse
lizard
iguana
chameleon
der Gecko
gecko
die Glattechse
skink

Some lizards are super duper awesome, because they're able to regenerate their tails and some might even change colors.

Snakes

Now, there aren't that many dangerous snakes here in Germany, but there are snakes to be found. For example: "Die Kreuzotter" or "Die Ringelnatter" are very common snakes in Germany.

Here is a short list of the German names for the most common snakes:

snake
die Python
python
die Cobra
cobra
die Klapperschlange
rattlesnake
die Königsboa
boa constrictor
die Natter
colubrids

Crocodiles and Alligators

Crocodiles and alligators are large aquatic reptiles that belong to the order Crocodilia. They are closely related and can be difficult to tell apart, but luckily, we only care about the words for them in German:

The German word for crocodile is 'das Krokodil' while alligator is 'der Alligator':

crocodile
der Alligator
alligator
der Gavial
gavialidae
der Kaiman
caiman

Turtles and Tortoises

The German word for turtle is "Schildkröte" (or "Wasserschildkröte") and the German word for tortoise is "Landschildkröte".

turtle
die Landschildkröte
tortoise
die griechische Landschildkröte
Hermann's tortoise
die Galapagos-Riesenschildkröte
Galápagos tortoise

The word "Schildkröte" translates literally as toad with a shield. "Die Kröte" means toad and "Das Schild" means shield.



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