# \-ine adjectives and animals **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 11, 2005, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ine-adjectives-and-animals/289527 "2005-02-11T03:26:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ine-adjectives-and-animals/289527/1 "2005-02-11T03:26:17Z")
I know that… canine = dogs feline = cats bovine = cows ursine = bears aquiline = eagles equine = horses porcine = pigs and There’s a similar “cean” list of words… cetacean = whales and dolphins piscean = fish What other terms are there? A link to a website listing these -ine words exhaustively would be great. If not we may have to build one ourselves. Feel up to the challenge? Moderators, I hope this is an interesting enough query for General Questions. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ine-adjectives-and-animals/289527/2 "2005-02-11T03:35:10Z")
Here’s a nice long list: [http://www.pubquizhelp.34sp.com/animals/adject.html](http://www.pubquizhelp.34sp.com/animals/adject.html) ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ine-adjectives-and-animals/289527/3 "2005-02-11T03:37:41Z")
> [@](#): > > A link to a website listing these -ine words exhaustively would be great. [Here’s a good one.](http://users.tinyonline.co.uk/gswithenbank/animalaj.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ine-adjectives-and-animals/289527/4 "2005-02-11T03:40:21Z")
Personally, I rather like hircine, meaning “goatlike.” There’s also ovine, meaning “sheeplike.” ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ine-adjectives-and-animals/289527/5 "2005-02-11T04:05:25Z")
You two have GOT to tell me the Google terms you used to find these sites!!! ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ine-adjectives-and-animals/289527/6 "2005-02-11T07:41:09Z")
Here’s one that deals with the [science of taxonomy](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=Taxonomy) ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ine-adjectives-and-animals/289527/7 "2005-02-11T07:57:45Z")
And a more general search term would be **collateral adjectives**. We had a thread on this about a month ago: > **[If Uncles Are Avuncular, Aunts Are...What?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=294711)** > > I’ve been straining all the resources at my disposal to try and find an English antonym for “avuncular”. I know, it’s a cultural thing in a society mostly based on a patriarchal family unit in which female relationships are deemed less important than... I managed to find this website: [http://www.angelfire.com/mo/dotila/trivia.html](http://www.angelfire.com/mo/dotila/trivia.html) which has a very extensive list. (Scroll down 3/4 of the page). For example, anything related to sleeping would be **soporific**. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ine-adjectives-and-animals/289527/8 "2005-02-11T09:05:21Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Personally, I rather like hircine, meaning “goatlike.” There’s also ovine, meaning “sheeplike.” I’m sticking with “caprine”, or indeed “capricious”, until they pry my dictionary from my cold dead hands. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ine-adjectives-and-animals/289527/9 "2005-02-11T14:42:06Z")
I do, however, recommend you avoid the “-ine” form meaning donkeylike, as its figurative use has completely eclipsed the literal meaning. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ine-adjectives-and-animals/289527/10 "2005-02-11T14:58:54Z")
> [@Case Sensitive](#): > > I’m sticking with “caprine”, or indeed “capricious”, until they pry my dictionary from my cold dead hands. Hircine, however, applies specifically to the odiferous character of the animal, and thus is useful for the Insult Concealed. Another such word (though not strictly an animal adjective) is _jumentous_, “smelling like a stable.”