Speciesist Dictionary

As part of my research on speciesism, I gathered the names of non-human animals that English speakers use to express something negative. This usage feeds speciesist thinking and keeps it alive. The list covers American, British, and Australian English. It remains far from complete, and I invite you to add to it.

An expression enters this dictionary when it does at least one of three things:

it degrades a human through comparison with another animal (weasel, birdbrain)
it draws on violence against animals or on their exploitation, even when the speaker means something positive (to kill two birds with one stone, cash cow)
it ties an animal to an unpleasant experience (a can of worms, sick as a dog)

English also holds admiring expressions (eagle-eyed, lionhearted). They remain a minority. A study of 14 dictionaries of colloquial English found most animal metaphors for human personality uncomplimentary (Sommer & Sommer, 2011).

Three conventions:

(US), (UK), and (AU) mark regional usage
a gloss in parentheses follows the animal names that few readers know
several entries record racist, sexist, or homophobic slurs. They appear here because they show how the animalization of others serves the dehumanization of humans

I try to drop these words from my own speech. Sometimes my tongue slips back onto the rails of dominant thinking, and I have to correct myself. May my non-human friends forgive me.

Albatross: a burden that someone cannot shake off – an albatross around his neck. From Coleridge's poem, where a sailor kills the bird and must wear the corpse.
Animal: a person judged brutal or out of control – they behaved like animals; you animal!
Ant: restlessness – ants in your pants
Ape:
a large, clumsy, or brutal man – you big ape!
racist slur against Black people, with a long history of dehumanization
to imitate without thinking – to ape someone
to lose control – to go ape (US); to go apeshit
Ass (donkey): a stupid or stubborn person – he made an ass of himself; jackass; asinine. Note: the American ass meaning “buttocks” comes from arse, a different word.
Baboon: a coarse or ugly person; also a racist slur against Black people
Badger: to harass someone without letup – stop badgering me. From badger-baiting, a blood sport that set dogs on a captive badger.
Barnacle: a person who clings to others and will not let go
Barracuda: a ruthless, predatory person, often in business
Bat:
an unpleasant old woman – old bat
madness – batty; bats in the belfry; batshit crazy
poor eyesight – blind as a bat
Bear:
a gruff, bad-tempered person – like a bear with a sore head (UK)
a painful task (US) – a bear of a job
a falling market – bear market. From the proverb about selling the bear's skin before catching the bear.
to provoke a dangerous person – to poke the bear
readiness for a fight, in the vocabulary of hunting (US) – loaded for bear
Beast:
a cruel or brutal person – you beast!; bestial; beastly (UK)
a person used as a tool for labor – beast of burden
something hard to handle – a beast of a problem
Beaver:
vulgar term for a woman's genitals
an overzealous person – eager beaver
Bee:
an obsession – a bee in her bonnet
a domineering woman – queen bee
Bird:
a young woman, reduced to an object of desire (UK)
a stupid person – birdbrain
a prisoner – jailbird
something worthless (US) – strictly for the birds
an obscene gesture (US) – to flip the bird
efficiency expressed through killing – to kill two birds with one stone
Bitch (female dog):
slur against a woman judged malicious, demanding, or simply assertive
a man treated as weak or subservient – he made him his bitch
to complain – to bitch about something
a painful situation – a bitch of a day
general insult – son of a bitch
Buck (male deer): (US) racist term once applied to Black and Native American men, cast as livestock or game
Buffalo: (US) to intimidate or bewilder – he buffaloed the witness
Bug:
to annoy – stop bugging me
an illness – a stomach bug
a defect – a bug in the system
madness (US) – crazy as a bedbug
total defeat, through an image of crushing – to squash someone like a bug
Bull:
lies, nonsense – bullshit; a load of bull
clumsiness – a bull in a china shop
stubbornness – bullheaded
homophobic slur against lesbians – bull dyke
provocation – like a red rag to a bull
to confront a difficulty, through an image of physical domination – to take the bull by the horns
Bunny:
a naive or stupid person – dumb bunny
a woman reduced to decoration – ski bunny; beach bunny
racist slur against Black people (US) – jungle bunny
an obsessive, vengeful woman (UK) – bunny boiler. From the film Fatal Attraction (1987), where a character boils a child's rabbit.
Butterfly:
a person judged superficial or fickle – social butterfly
anxiety – butterflies in the stomach
Buzzard: (US) a disagreeable old man – old buzzard
Calf: celebration expressed through slaughter – to kill the fatted calf
Camel:
the last small burden that breaks someone – the straw that broke the camel's back
racist slur against Arabs (US) – camel jockey
Canary:
an informer – to sing like a canary
an early warning paid for with a life – canary in the coal mine. Miners carried caged canaries underground; the bird died first when gas leaked.
Cat:
a spiteful woman – catty; catfight
a rich person who profits from others – fat cat
a coward – scaredy-cat; fraidy-cat (US)
an imitator – copycat
a brothel (US) – cathouse
a promiscuous person – alley cat; tomcat
to toy with a victim – to play cat and mouse
bad weather – raining cats and dogs
casual cruelty – more than one way to skin a cat; no room to swing a cat; curiosity killed the cat
Catfish: to lure someone with a fake online identity – to catfish someone
Cattle: people handled as a mass – herded like cattle; cattle call (US); cattle class (UK)
Chameleon: a person who changes opinions or manners to suit the moment
Chick: a young woman, reduced to something small and cute – chick flick; chick lit
Chicken:
a coward – chicken; to chicken out; chicken-hearted
worthless or petty (US) – chickenshit; chicken feed
panic – running around like a headless chicken. An image taken straight from slaughter.
a dangerous test of nerve – to play chicken
aging, mostly said of women – no spring chicken
Chimp (chimpanzee): a foolish person; also a racist slur against Black people
Clam: to fall silent – to clam up
Cock (rooster):
arrogance – cocky; cocksure; cock of the walk
vulgar term for the penis
an absurd tale – cock-and-bull story
a clash of male egos, named after a blood sport – cockfight
Cockroach: a person treated as loathsome and fit for extermination; also roach (US). Genocidal propaganda used the word against Tutsi people in Rwanda in 1994.
Coon (raccoon): (US) violent racist slur against Black people, usually traced to raccoon
Coot (a water bird): a foolish old man – old coot; bald as a coot
Cougar: an older woman who pursues younger men
Cow:
slur for a woman judged stupid, fat, or unpleasant – silly cow (UK); fat cow; silly moo (UK)
a steady source of profit – cash cow
to exploit – to milk someone; to milk it
a belief placed beyond criticism, an image borrowed from Hindu respect for cows – sacred cow
an outburst of anger (US) – to have a cow
Coyote: (US) a smuggler who takes migrants across the Mexican border
Crab:
a bad-tempered person – crabby
pubic lice – crabs
people who drag down anyone who tries to rise – crabs in a bucket
Crocodile: fake sorrow – crocodile tears
Crow:
an old or ugly woman – old crow
to boast – to crow about something
humiliation (US) – to eat crow
wrinkles – crow's feet
a thin, ragged person – scarecrow
the system of racial segregation in the United States – Jim Crow. From a blackface minstrel character of the 1830s.
Cuckoo:
crazy – cuckoo; cloud-cuckoo-land
a man whose wife has sex with another man – cuckold; hence the political insult cuck (US). From the cuckoo's habit of laying eggs in other nests.
an intruder – a cuckoo in the nest
Cur (a dog of mixed ancestry): a contemptible, cowardly man
Deer: paralysis through fear – a deer in the headlights. An image of the second before a car strikes.
Dingo: (AU) a coward or a cheat
Dinosaur: a person or institution judged outdated
Dodo:
a stupid person – dumb as a dodo
gone for good – dead as a dodo. Humans drove dodos to extinction in the 17th century.
Dog:
a contemptible man – dirty dog
slur for a woman judged ugly
something of poor quality (US) – a dog of a movie
to pursue or plague – dogged by scandal
misery – a dog's life; sick as a dog; dog-tired; to go to the dogs; in the doghouse; to die like a dog
ruthless competition – dog-eat-dog
a servile follower – lapdog; running dog; attack dog
a drudge (UK) – dogsbody
a mess (UK) – a dog's breakfast
a guilty, beaten look – hangdog
the expected loser – underdog
a person who keeps from others what they cannot use themselves – dog in the manger
bad verse – doggerel
Donkey:
a stupid or stubborn person
drudgery (UK) – donkey work
a clumsy soccer player (UK)
Drone (male bee):
an idler who lives off the work of others
to speak at length in a dull voice – to drone on
Drongo (a bird): (AU) a stupid person. Said to come from a 1920s racehorse of that name who never won a race.
Duck:
an easy target – sitting duck
an official with no power left at the end of a term – lame duck
a doomed person or project – dead duck
an odd person (US) – odd duck
a child judged unattractive – ugly duckling
Eel: an evasive, untrustworthy person – slippery as an eel
Elephant:
slur for a fat or clumsy person
a costly, useless possession – white elephant
an obvious problem that nobody mentions – the elephant in the room
Ferret:
a sly, sharp-featured person – ferret-faced
to search out – to ferret out. From hunting rabbits with ferrets.
Filly (young female horse): (dated) a lively young woman
Fish:
an unfeeling person – cold fish
an odd person (UK) – queer fish
suspicious – fishy
a coarse, loud woman – fishwife
insignificant people – small fry
a person who profits from the misfortune of others (US) – bottom feeder
a new prisoner (US) – fresh fish
heavy drinking – to drink like a fish
a person out of place, through an image of suffocation – a fish out of water
an easy win, through an image of slaughter – like shooting fish in a barrel
more important matters, through an image of cooking – bigger fish to fry
Flea:
a shabby person or place – fleabag; flea-bitten; fleapit (UK)
a sharp rebuke – a flea in his ear
Fly:
mass death or collapse – to drop like flies
a flaw that spoils everything – a fly in the ointment
a person who spends their days in bars – barfly
Fox:
a cunning, deceitful person – sly as a fox; to outfox
a woman judged by her sexual appeal – foxy
a predator put in charge of the victims – a fox guarding the henhouse
Frog:
slur against French people – Frog; Froggy
hoarseness – a frog in the throat
slow harm that goes unnoticed, through an image of boiling alive – the boiling frog
Gadfly: a person who irritates others with constant criticism
Galah (a cockatoo): (AU) a loud fool – you flaming galah!
Gannet (a seabird): (UK) a greedy eater
Gnat: an insignificant, irritating person
Goat:
a lecherous old man – old goat
a person made to carry the blame – scapegoat. From a ritual in Leviticus that loads a goat with the sins of the people and drives the goat into the wilderness.
the player blamed for a defeat (US) – the goat
to irritate – to get someone's goat
the bad ones in a group – to separate the sheep from the goats
Goldfish:
a short memory – the memory of a goldfish
life under constant watch – goldfish bowl
Goose:
a silly person – silly goose
to poke someone between the buttocks – to goose
ruin – to cook someone's goose
a futile search – wild-goose chase
greed that destroys its own source – to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs
Gorilla:
a big, brutal man; hired muscle
racist slur against Black people
a dominant force that does as it pleases (US) – the 800-pound gorilla
Guinea pig: a person used as a test subject. From the routine use of guinea pigs in laboratory experiments.
Hack (a horse for hire): a writer or politician who turns out mediocre work for pay – hack writer; party hack. From hackney, a horse rented out and worn down by overwork.
Hamster: pointless, endless routine – hamster wheel. An image of captivity.
Hare:
reckless, foolish – harebrained
madness – mad as a March hare
Hawk:
a politician who favors war
intrusive watching – to watch someone like a hawk
Heifer (young cow): (US) slur for a woman judged fat
Hen:
a fussy or gossiping woman – old hen; mother hen; old biddy
a gathering of women (UK) – hen party
a man dominated by his wife – henpecked
anger (US) – mad as a wet hen
Herd: people who follow without thinking – herd mentality; to follow the herd
Herring: a false trail – red herring
Hippo (hippopotamus): slur for a fat person
Hog:
a greedy or selfish person – to hog the road; road hog
nonsense – hogwash. From the kitchen waste fed to pigs.
rendered helpless (US) – hog-tied. From the tying of a pig's four legs.
excess – to go the whole hog
luxury, measured in cuts of flesh (US) – to live high on the hog
Hornet:
a violent reaction – to stir up a hornet's nest
anger (US) – mad as a hornet
Horse:
a coarse, long face – horse-faced
nonsense (US) – horseshit; horsefeathers
rough play – horseplay; horsing around
arrogance – get off your high horse
a person who grinds through hard labor – workhorse
a small, dull place (US) – one-horse town
old age – long in the tooth. From the practice of judging a horse's age by the teeth.
to discard someone who no longer serves – to put out to pasture
wasted effort, through an image of beating – to beat a dead horse (US); to flog a dead horse (UK)
control, in the vocabulary of riding – to rein in; to saddle someone with; to ride roughshod over
Hound:
to pursue without rest – hounded by the press. From hunting with dogs.
a person obsessed with one pursuit – publicity hound
Hyena:
a person who feeds on the misfortune of others
shrill laughter – to laugh like a hyena
Insect: an insignificant, contemptible person – you insect
Jackal: an opportunist who follows the powerful to pick up scraps
Jade (a worn-out horse): (dated) a woman judged disreputable; hence jaded, worn out
Jay: (US, dated) a naive country person; hence jaywalker
Jellyfish: a person without firmness or courage – spineless as a jellyfish
Kangaroo:
a sham tribunal – kangaroo court
madness (AU) – kangaroos loose in the top paddock
Kipper (a smoked herring): (UK) cheated or framed – stitched up like a kipper
Kitten:
a woman reduced to sexual appeal – sex kitten
panic (UK) – to have kittens
weakness – weak as a kitten
Lamb:
an innocent led to harm – like a lamb to the slaughter
a person given up for the benefit of others – sacrificial lamb
an older woman dressed in a style judged too young (UK) – mutton dressed as lamb
Leech: a person who lives off others – to leech off someone
Lemming: a person who follows the crowd into disaster. The image rests on a myth: lemmings do not throw themselves off cliffs.
Leopard: a bad character that cannot change – a leopard cannot change its spots
Limpet (a sea snail): (UK) a person who clings – to cling like a limpet
Lion:
mortal danger – the lion's den; to throw someone to the lions
the largest part, taken by force – the lion's share
Lizard:
a man who idles in bars in search of women – lounge lizard
the part of the mind cast as primitive – lizard brain
Lobster: sunburn or embarrassment – red as a lobster. Lobsters turn red when boiled alive.
Locust: people cast as a devouring swarm – they descended like locusts
Loon (a diving bird): madness (US) – crazy as a loon. Note: loony comes from lunatic.
Louse:
a contemptible person – louse; lousy
to ruin (US) – to louse up
a fool (UK) – nit, the egg of a louse
petty criticism – nitpicking. From the removal of lice eggs by hand.
Maggot: a despicable person – you maggot
Magpie: a compulsive hoarder or chatterer
Mare (female horse): (UK) contemptuous term for a woman – silly mare
Master: as under slavery, a dog or a horse has a “master”
Minnow (a small fish): a small, unimportant player
Mole: a spy planted inside an organization
Mongrel (a dog of mixed ancestry):
racist term for a person of mixed ancestry
a contemptible person (AU)
Monkey:
racist slur against Black people – also porch monkey (US)
to humiliate – to make a monkey out of someone
foolish or dishonest behavior – monkey business; to monkey around
a low-status worker – grease monkey; code monkey; a trained monkey could do it
mindless imitation – monkey see, monkey do
an addiction or burden – a monkey on your back
Moth:
self-destructive attraction – like a moth to a flame
shabby, worn out – moth-eaten
Mouse:
a timid, quiet person – mousy; man or mouse?
poverty – poor as a church mouse
Mule:
a stubborn person – stubborn as a mule; mulish
a person who carries drugs across a border – drug mule
racist term for a person with one Black and one white parent – mulatto, usually traced to the Spanish mulo, “mule”
Mutt:
a stupid person (US). Short for muttonhead.
a person of mixed ancestry
Newt: (UK) very drunk – pissed as a newt
Octopus:
a man who gropes
an organization with a grip on everything
Ostrich: a person who refuses to face reality – to bury your head in the sand. The image rests on a myth: ostriches do no such thing.
Owner: as under slavery, the law treats animals as property with an “owner”
Ox: a big, slow, stupid man – dumb ox
Parrot:
to repeat without understanding – to parrot; parrot-fashion (UK)
bitter disappointment (UK) – sick as a parrot
Peacock: a vain man who shows off – proud as a peacock; peacocking
Pet: an animal kept for human pleasure; hence a favorite who enjoys privileges – teacher's pet
Pig:
a dirty, greedy, or rude person – you pig; pigsty; to pig out; to eat like a pig
a sexist man – male chauvinist pig
slur for a police officer
slur for a fat person – fat pig; porker; porky
stubbornness – pigheaded
a purchase made blind – a pig in a poke
a useless disguise – lipstick on a pig
to botch (UK) – to make a pig's ear of something
disbelief – when pigs fly
heavy sweating or bleeding – to sweat like a pig; to bleed like a stuck pig. The second comes straight from slaughter.
the body as meat – to save someone's bacon; to bring home the bacon
Pigeon:
a dupe, an easy mark
an informer – stool pigeon. Said to come from hunters who tied a decoy pigeon to a stool.
to lock someone into a narrow category – to pigeonhole
body shapes judged defective – pigeon-toed; pigeon-chested
Piranha: a ruthless person who attacks as part of a group
Pit bull: an aggressive, relentless person – the party's pit bull; also bulldog. Breeders shaped both dogs for blood sports.
Polecat (a relative of the weasel): a foul-smelling or contemptible person
Pony:
a person with a single skill – one-trick pony
an elaborate show put on to impress (US) – dog and pony show. Both come from the circus.
Poodle: (UK) a servile follower of someone powerful – the president's poodle
Popinjay (an old word for parrot): a vain, talkative person
Possum: to feign sleep, death, or ignorance – to play possum
Predator: a person who hunts others, often for sex – sexual predator; to prey on the weak
Puppy:
an arrogant young man (dated) – insolent puppy; young pup; whelp
childish infatuation – puppy love
cheated in a deal (UK) – sold a pup
Pussy (cat):
vulgar term for a woman's genitals
a man judged weak or cowardly
excessive caution – to pussyfoot around
a man dominated by his wife (US) – pussy-whipped
Rabbit:
frequent sex or many children – to breed like rabbits
fear (UK) – like a rabbit caught in the headlights
a blow to the back of the neck – rabbit punch. Named after a way of killing rabbits.
Rat:
a traitor or informer – to rat on someone; rat fink (US); to smell a rat
a despicable person – dirty rat; love rat (UK); ratbag (UK, AU)
a squalid place – rat hole
exhausting competition – the rat race
a test subject – lab rat
deserters – rats leaving a sinking ship
soaked and miserable – like a drowned rat
total indifference (US) – I don't give a rat's ass
Reptile: a cold, repulsive, or treacherous person – reptilian
Rhinoceros: insensitivity – the hide of a rhinoceros
Rook (a bird of the crow family): to swindle – he got rooked
Runt (the smallest newborn of a litter): a small, weak person – the runt of the litter
Sardine: crowding – packed like sardines. An image of dead bodies in a can.
Savage: a person cast as brutal and uncivilized – savagery; a savage attack. Colonial powers applied the word to Indigenous peoples and to free animals alike.
Seal: (US) a person who performs or applauds on command – trained seal
Shark: a ruthless, greedy person – loan shark; card shark
Sheep:
a person who follows without thinking – like sheep; sheeple
embarrassment – sheepish
the disgraced member of a family – black sheep
to swindle – to fleece someone. From shearing.
a stupid person (US) – muttonhead
slur aimed at rural people, the Welsh, and New Zealanders (UK, AU) – sheep-shagger
Shrew (a small insect-eating mammal): a scolding, bad-tempered woman – shrewish. Medieval belief held shrews venomous.
Shrimp: a small or weak person
Skunk:
a contemptible person
very drunk – drunk as a skunk
to defeat utterly (US) – to skunk
Snail: slowness – at a snail's pace
Snake:
a treacherous person – snake in the grass; viper; serpent; nest of vipers
a fraud (US) – snake oil salesman
a place of vicious rivalry – snake pit
moral baseness (US, AU) – lower than a snake's belly
Snipe (a wading bird):
to attack from cover, with words or with a rifle – to snipe at; sniper. From the hunting of snipes.
a street child, with contempt – guttersnipe
Sow (female pig): slur for a woman judged fat or slovenly
Sponge (a marine animal): a person who lives off others – sponger; to sponge off
Squirrel: (US) nervous, odd, unreliable – squirrelly
Stud (a male horse kept for breeding): a man valued for sexual performance
Swarm: people cast as a mass of insects – a swarm of migrants; to infest
Swine: a contemptible person – you swine; pearls before swine
Termite: a person who undermines from within
Tiger: a threat with no real power – paper tiger
Toad:
a repulsive person – you toad
a servile flatterer – toady. From toad-eater, a charlatan's assistant who swallowed toads, held poisonous, so that the master could claim a cure.
Trout: (UK) an older woman judged unattractive or bad-tempered – old trout
Turkey:
a stupid or inept person (US)
a flop, often a film or a play (US)
abrupt withdrawal from a drug – cold turkey
people who back their own destruction (UK) – turkeys voting for Christmas. An image of slaughter.
Turtle:
a slow person; also tortoise
to capsize – to turn turtle. From sailors who flipped turtles on their backs to capture them.
Vermin: people treated as a pest to eliminate – vermin; varmint (US). Nazi propaganda cast Jews as rats and lice, and the vocabulary of extermination followed.
Vixen (female fox): a quarrelsome woman; a woman cast as sexually dangerous
Vulture: a person who profits from the misfortune or death of others – vultures circling overhead; vulture fund
Wasp: irritable, sharp-tongued – waspish
Weasel:
a sly, sneaking person
to escape an obligation – to weasel out
evasive language – weasel words
Whale:
slur for a fat person – beached whale
a gambler who stakes fortunes, courted by casinos as prey
Wolf:
a man who pursues women aggressively – wolf whistle
a hidden predator – a wolf in sheep's clothing
a violent loner – lone wolf
to eat greedily – to wolf down
a false alarm – to cry wolf
to abandon someone to danger – to throw someone to the wolves
hunger and poverty – to keep the wolf from the door
Worm:
a weak, contemptible person – you worm
to slip into a position through cunning – to worm your way in
a person mocked for reading too much – bookworm
a tangle of problems – a can of worms. From the bait cans of anglers.
Zoo: a place of chaos, with the cages taken for granted – the office turned into a zoo

Sources

Sommer, R. & Sommer, B. A. (2011). Zoomorphy: animal metaphors for human personality. Anthrozoös, 24(3), 237–248.

Speciesist Dictionary

Sources

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