Animal Names in French (Les Noms des Animaux)

Animals are a fascinating subject, so we will talk about animal names in French in todays blog post! Animals have always played a significant role in the life of man. Initially, mainly either as prey or as a threat when man himself became the prey. Later, however, also as farm animals that performed the heavy work for us and, of course, as comrades and friends in the form of pets.
Particularly beautiful evidence of how far back the relationship between man and animal goes, can be found in France in the form of animal paintings dating back between 15,000 and possibly as early as 36,000 BC in the caves of Lascaux and Chauvet.

Table of Contents

• Farm Animal Names in French – Noms des animaux de la ferme
  • Farm Animals in French – Les animaux de la ferme
• French Names for Pets (Noms des animaux domestiques)
• French Animal Names for Forest Animals
• Bird Names in French – Noms d’oiseaux
• Fish Names in French
• Water Animals in French (Les animaux aquatiques)
• French Animal Names for African Animals
• French Names of Polar Animals
• French Names of Extinct Animals

Farm Animal Names in French – Noms des animaux de la ferme

Unfortunately, the old-fashioned farm with all kinds of different animals is pretty rare these days. The economic need for higher yields turned many farms into highly specialized mono-cultures.

But more and more farmers are turning to environmentally friendly farming, and their livestock is often more like we used to know it. All sorts of animals, each producing a different food. So, if you want to show your kids a farm like it’s still pictured in many children’s books with all kinds of farm animals, these are the ones to visit.

Farm Animals in French – Les animaux de la ferme

Animal	French Singular	French Plural	Indefinite Article
Boar	le sanglier	les sangliers	un sanglier
Bull	le taureau	les taureaux	un taureau
Cattle	la vache	le bétail	une vache
Chick	le poussin	les poussins	un poussin
Chicken	le poulet	les poulets	un poulet
Cow	la vache	les vaches	une vache
Donkey	l’âne	les ânes	un âne
Duck	le canard	les canards	un canard
Ewe	la brebis	les brebis	une brebis
Gander	le jars	les jars	un jars
Goat	la chèvre	les chèvres	une chèvre
Goose	l’oie	les oies	une oie
He-Goat	le bouc	les boucs	un bouc
Horse	le cheval	les chevaux	un cheval
Ox	le bœuf	les boeufs	un bœuf
Pig	le cochon	les cochons	un cochon
Piglet	le porcelet	les porcelets	un porcelet
Ram	le bélier	les béliers	un bélier
Rooster	le coque	les coqs	un coque
Sheep	le mouton	le mouton	un mouton
Stallion	l’étalon	les étalons	un étalon

French Names for Pets (Noms des animaux domestiques)

French bulldogs have been immensely popular in recent years. But apart from bulldogs, the French have other pets as well such as birds, cats, or hamsters. So let’s take a look at pet names in French. (When you are searching for bird names, please scroll down to the appropriate section.)

Animal	French Singular	French Plural	Indefinite Article
Cat	le chat	les chats	un chat
Dog	le chien	les chiens	un chien
Guinea Pig	le cochon d’Inde	les cochons d’inde	un cochon d’Inde
Hamster	le hamster	les hamsters	un hamster
Hare	le lièvre	les lièvre	un lièvre
Mouse	la souris	les souris	une souris
Rabbit	le lapin	les lapins	un lapin
Rat	le rat	les rats	un rat
Snake	le serpent	les serpents	un serpent
Turtle	la tortue	les tortues	une tortue

French Animal Names for Forest Animals

The woods are great places to take a walk and relax. The air is clean and full of oxygen, the trees, shrubs, lakes and brooks are beautiful. And when you’re lucky you can se all kinds of animals as well. Little ones like ants or hedgehogs or larger ones like foxes or badgers, they are all fascinating. Just make sure you keep a respectful distance, so you don’t scare them and both you and the animal stay safe.

Animal	French Singular	French Plural	Indefinite Article
Ant	la fourmi	les fourmis	une fourmi
Badger	le blaireau	les blaireaux	un blaireau
Bat	la chauve-souris	les chauves-souris	une chauve-souris
Blind Worm	le ver lent	les vers lents	un ver lent
Brown Bear	l’ours brun	les ours bruns	un ours brun
Fallow Deer	le daim	les daim	un daim
Fox	le renard	les renards	un renard
Hare	le lièvre	les lièvres	un lièvre
Hedgehog	le hérisson	les hérissons	un hérisson
Lynx	le lynx	les lynx	un lynx
Marten	la martre	les martres	une martre
Rabbit	le lapin	les lapins	un lapin
Roe Deer	le cerf	les cerf	un cerf
Wild Boar	le sanglier	les sangliers	un sanglier
Wolf	le loup	les loups	un loup

Bird Names in French – Noms d’oiseaux

Most people love birds. Many have spectacular colors and are lovely to watch. And some are able to sing most beautifully. And they can fly, which most of us will envy.

Animal	French Singular	French Plural	Indefinite Article
Atlantic Puffin	le macareux	les macareux	un macareux
Budgie	la perruche	les perruches	une perruche
Chicken	le poulet	les poulets	un poulet
Cockatoo	le cacatoès	les cacatoès	un cacatoès
Duck	le canard	les canards	un canard
Eagle	l’aigle	les aigles	un aigle
Magpie	la pie	les pies	une pie
Owl	la chouette	les chouettes	une chouette
Parrot	le perroquet	les perroquets	un perroquet
Raven	le corbeau	les corbeaux	un corbeau
Sea-Gull	la mouette	les mouettes	une mouette
Sparrow	le moineau	les moineaux	un moineau
Swallow	l’hirondelle	les hirondelles	une hirondelle
Swan	le cygne	les cygnes	un cygne
Vulture	le vautour	les vautours	un vautour

Fish Names in French

Fish are interesting and lovely to observe, whether its sweet water fish (poissons d’eau douce) or salt water fish (poissons d’eau salée). Which is of course the reason why so many people have fish tanks at home. Especially fish from warmer regions often have spectacular colors and I never get bored watching them.

Animal	French Singular	French Plural	Indefinite Article
Angel Fish	le poisson-ange	le poisson-ange	un poisson-ange
Carp	la carpe	les carpes	une carpe
Catfish	le poisson-chat	les poissons-chat	un poisson-chat
Cichlid	le tilapia	les cichlidés	un tilapia
Gold Fish	le poisson rouge	les poissons rouge	un poisson rouge
Guppy	le guppy	les guppys	un guppy
Hogfish	le labre capitaine	les labre capitaine	un labre capitaine
Pike	le brochet	les brochets	un brochet
Salmon	le saumon	les saumons	un saumon
Shark	le requin	le requins	un requin
Sturgeon	l’esturgeon	les esturgeons	un esturgeon
Surgeonfish	le poisson chirurgien	les poisson chirurgien	un poisson chirurgien
Triggerfish	le baliste	les baliste	un baliste
Zander	le sandre	les sandre	un sandre

Water Animals in French (Les animaux aquatiques)

There are more animals than just fish in our lakes, rivers and oceans. Apart from sea birds there are all kinds of different inhabitants of our waters. If you ever took part in a diving course, you know how lively and fascinating the wildlife under water can be.

Animals	French Singular	French Plural	Indefinite Article
Cuttlefish	le calmar	les calmars	un calmar
Dolphin	le dauphin	les dauphins	un dauphin
Frog	la grenouille	les grenouilles	une grenouille
Jellyfish	la méduse	la méduse	une méduse
Krill	le krill	no plural form	–
Lobster	le homard	les homards	un homard
Mussel	la moule	les moules	une moule
Octopus	la pieuvre	pieuvres	une pieuvre
Oyster	l’huître	les huîtres	une huître
Shrimp	le crabe	les crabes	un crabe
Starfish	l’étoile de mer	les étoile de mer	une étoile de mer
Toad	le crapaud	les crapauds	un crapaud
Turtle	la tortue	les tortues	une tortue
Whale	la baleine	les baleines	une baleine

French Animal Names for African Animals

Africa is full of interesting animals. Beautiful ones like antelopes and zebras, tall ones like elephants and giraffes or ferocious ones like lions or leopards. They are all fascinating and much better to be observed and admired than to be hunted.

Animals	French Singular	French Plural	Indefinite Article
Antelope	l’antilope	les antilopes	une antilope
Buffalo	le buffle	les buffles	un buffle
Chimpanzee	le chimpanzé	les chimpanzés	un chimpanzé
Elephant	l’éléphant	les éléphants	un éléphant
Gazelle	la gazelle	les gazelles	une gazelle
Giraffe	la girafe	les girafes	une girafe
Gorilla	le gorille	les gorilles	un gorille
Leopard	le léopard	les léopards	un léopard
Lion	le lion	les lions	un lion
Rhino	le rhinocéros	les rhinocéros	un rhinocéros
Wildebeest	le gnou	les gnous	un gnou
Zebra	le zèbre	les zèbres	un zèbre

French Names of Polar Animals

The pole regions belong to the areas with the toughest conditions for survival on this planet. Ice and snow and temperatures well below freezing point. But some animals specialized in survival under these circumstances. Whether it’s polar bears at the North Pole or penguins at the South Pole, these animals are masters in living with extremes.

Animals	French Singular	French Plural	Indefinite Article
Arctic Fox	le renard arctique	les renards arctiques	un renard arctique
Arctic Hare	le lièvre des neiges	les lièvres des neiges	un lièvre des neiges
Leopard Seal	le phoque léopard	les phoques léopards	un phoque léopard
Musk Ox	le boeuf musqué	les bœufs musqués	un boeuf musqué
Penguin	le pingouin	les pingouins	un pingouin
Polar Bear	l’ours polaire	les ours polaires	un ours polaire
Reindeer	le renne	le renne	un renne
Sea Lion	le lion de mer	les lions de mer	un lion de mer
Seal	le sceau	les scellés	un sceau
Walrus	le morse	les morses	un morse

French Names of Extinct Animals

There are an estimated 10 – 14 million different species on our planet today. But scientists assume that anywhere in the region of 5 and up to 50 billion species are extinct!

So the vast majority of species has vanished forever. Which may sound sad. But on the other hand, who would like to sit in a bus with a little fellow like the one in the picture above on the seat next to you? You wouldn’t? I thought so.

Animals	French Singular	French Plural	Indefinite Article
Aurochs	le aurochs	les aurochs	un aurochs
Caspian Tiger	le tigre de la Caspienne	les tigres de la Caspienne	un tigre de la Caspienne
Dinosaur	le dinosaure	les dinosaures	un dinosaure
Dodo	le dodo	les dodos	un dodo
Mammoth	le mammouth	les mammouths	un mammouth
Saber-toothed Tiger	le tigre à dents de sabre	les tigres à dents de sabre	un tigre à dents de sabre
Thylacine	le loup de Tasmanie	les loups	un loup de Tasmanie

This was our list of animal names in French. You should have enough material now for your next visit to a zoo. Looking for more French vocabulary? How about words of endearment in French?