Animals in Japanese - a Brief Guide

Have you ever struggled to name your favorite animals in Japanese? Whether you’re just getting started with the language or looking to expand your vocabulary, knowing animal names is an essential part of mastering Japanese. But don’t worry, learning these words can actually be a lot of fun!

Did you know that Japanese animal vocabulary often comes with fascinating nuances? For example, the word for “cat” changes depending on whether it’s a kitten or a full-grown feline. And the variety of words for different types of fish or birds will have you amazed!

By the end of this post, you’ll have a whole new set of animal-related vocabulary under your belt, from mammals to insects and beyond. Not only will you enrich your Japanese, but you’ll also gain the ability to describe the animal kingdom in more detail, enhancing both your conversations and understanding of the language.

Ready to dive into the world of Japanese fauna and start learning animal-related vocabulary in a way that’s fun and easy? Keep reading to discover all the animals you need to know – and some shows that will help you practice while enjoying the process!

How are animals called in Japanese?

In Japanese, the word for "animal" is dobutsu 動物. If you look at the kanji, the first kanji 動 means "to move" and the second one 物 "thing", literally meaning "thing that moves".

Animal names are written mostly in hiragana or katakana (regardless if it's a loan word or not) since the kanji used to write them are quite difficult and most of them have unusual readings. That's why the Japanese prefer to write them with kana. However, in the lists you'll see how it's written in kanji too.

Here are a series of lists divided by animal type. Let's start with the mammals.

Mammals

Mammals are called jurui 獣類, which is also used for "beasts".

It's said that around 130 species of mammals inhabit Japan, including bears, monkeys, deers, foxes, etc. Some of them are specially iconic, such as the Japanese macaque that baths in hot springs or the deers at Nara Park (Nara Koen) or Miyajima.

Some of the animal listed here are the main protagonists of Japanese folk tales such as the fox, the monkey or the racoon dog.

Pets are popular in Japanese. So much so that there are shops that sells everything for cats, dogs and other pets, such as strollers, cloth, etc. "Pet" in Japanese comes from English and it's petto ペット. If you want to say that you have a pet, you say petto o katte imasu ペットを飼っています. You can replace the word petto with any animal you like.

This list includes pets, farm and wild mammals.

Birds.

Around 600 species of birds are recorded in Japan, including the national bird, the green pheasant, the woodpecker and the crow, among others. Crows, specially, can be heard at many places in Japan. The word for "bird" in Japanese is tori 鳥.

Reptiles and amphibians.

Around 73 species of reptiles and amphibians can be found in Japan, including snakes, turtles and lizards.

The word for "reptile" is hachūrui 爬虫類 and for "amphibian" is ryōseirui 両生類.

Fish, molluscs and other marine animals.

Japan has a rich sea ecosystem where over 3,000 types of fish inhabit it. Sharks, shrimps, crabs and many other sea animals can be found there.

Insects, arachnids and other small animals.

Many types of butterflies, beetles, wasps, etc. can be found in Japan. Many of them are still unregistered.

Cicadas are particularly iconic during summer when they sing.

Animal body parts and other words.

Here is a list of words used to describe any kind of animal. Just use any of these words with the sentence pattern animal + body part + ga が + adjective. E.g., shika wa tsuno ga nagai desu　鹿は角が長いです ("The deer has long horns").

Counter suffixes for animals.

There are at least three common counter suffixes used to count animals depending on their features.

The counter -hiki/piki/biki ～匹 is used to count small animals, such as cats, dogs or small insects. For instance:

Watashi wa neko ga ippiki katte imasu.

私は猫が1匹飼っています。

I have one cat.

Be careful with -hiki/piki/biki because it changes in some of the numbers:

Ippiki 1匹
Nihiki　2匹
Sanbiki　3匹
Yonhiki　4匹
Gohiki　5匹
Roppiki　6匹
Nanahiki 7匹
Happiki 8匹
Kyūhiki 9九匹
Juppiki 10匹

In case of large animals, such as horses or elephants, the counter -tō 頭 is used instead. The kanji used is the same one for "head".

Uma ga nitō imasu.
馬が2頭います。

There are 2 horses.

However, birds and rabbits have their unique counter suffix: -wa 羽. What's interesting is that the kanji is the same for "wings" and "feather". But why rabbits? Well, there is an interesting story from the linguistic standpoint, but a cruel and sad story from the animal treatment perspective. After being hunted and killed, rabbits were carried in bundles bound by their ears. The counter for "bundle" has the same sound, -wa, although with a different kanji: 把. Also, the rabbit's ears looked like wings, so the counter suffix ended up being the same for birds.

Animal babies.

For baby animals, such as puppies, kitten or bunnies, add ko 子 at the beginning of the animal's name. The kanji 子 means "kid". For example:

Learn Animal Words With Lingopie

There's a vast array of animals to learn in Japanese. While it would take too long to list them all here, now it's your turn to explore and discover even more animal vocabulary on your own!

And how can you accomplish such a task? With Lingopie! Lingopie offers a wide range of great and real Japanese TV shows, such as anime, movies and music videos. You can learn lots of animal words in hiragana, katakana, kanji or Latin letters (rōmaji) and review them with quizzes and flashcards.

You can start learning words related to animals in these two shows:

Aggretsuko

The characters in this show has names based on the animal the characters are and mixed with people's names. For instance, Washimi is an eagle and has the word washi ("eagle") in her name, Tsunoda is a gazelle and has the word tsuno ("horn"), and so on.

Aggretsuko is available on the Netflix catalog on Lingopie.

White Rabbit.

A short folk story about a rabbit. One interesting thing is that the word wani used in it means "shark" and not "crocodile/alligator". This is because in past times wani had a different meaning. Now, the word for "shark" is same.

Interesting, aren't they? This two and many more shows are available on the platform, where you can also also book group or private lessons given by our professional teachers to learn even more through lessons based on your favorite shows!

So, what are you waiting for? Sign up and start your free trial and enjoy the world of Lingopie!

See you next time!