Subscribe To This Site
Collective Terms for Animals
Collective Terms for Animals
This section is a pretty comprehensive list of Collective Terms for Animals. Many will be familiar but others will be unheard of, deriving from 15th century witticisms or literary imagination, and some are simply archaic or erroneous. There are also some terms for pairs of animals and groups of three animals.
The list has been arranged alphabetically.
Here is the list of Collective Terms for Groups of Animals beginning with S.
| animal | group or collective term | notes |
| salmon | bind | |
| leap | possibly invented | |
| run | ||
| draught | ||
| sandpipers | fling | |
| sardines | family | |
| seafowl | cloud | |
| sea horses | herd | possibly invented |
| seals | herd | |
| pod | ||
| rookery | ||
| sheep | down | |
| drift | when driven in a group | |
| drove | when driven in a group | |
| flock | standard | |
| herd | ||
| hurtle | ||
| meinie | ||
| mob | ||
| parcel | ||
| trip | ||
| sheldrake | dopping | |
| smelts | quantity | |
| snails | escargatoire | |
| rout | ||
| walk | ||
| snakes | bed | probably a nesting place, not a collective noun |
| den | probably a nesting place, not a collective noun | |
| trogle | literary | |
| knots (young) | ||
| trogle | literary | |
| snipe | walk | |
| whisp or wisp | ||
| sparrows | host | |
| meinie | ||
| tribe | ||
| spiders | cluster or clutter | |
| squirrels | colony | |
| dray or drey | probably strictly, the nest | |
| starlings | chattering | |
| clattering | ||
| cloud | ||
| congregation | ||
| murmuration | ||
| sticklebacks | shoal | |
| spread | possibly invented | |
| stoats | pack | |
| trip | ||
| storks | flight | |
| mustering | ||
| phalanx | migrating | |
| swallows | flight | |
| gulp | ||
| swans | bank | on the ground |
| bevy | ||
| drift | ||
| eyrar | ||
| game | ||
| herd | ||
| lamentation | possibly fanciful | |
| sownder | ||
| team | ||
| wedge (in flight) | ||
| whiting | ||
| swifts | flock | |
| swine, tame | doylt | |
| drift | ||
| trip | ||
| swine | drove | when driven in a group |
| herd | ||
| swine, wild | sounder (twelve or more) | |
| swordfish | flotilla | possibly invented |