Dogs are canine, cats are feline, cows are bovine. What's with all the -ines?

Mental Floss Fact of the Day ^ | April 18, 2004 | anonymous

[redhead]

While all animal adjectives don't end in -ine (simian, for instance), most of them do. There are -ine terms for more animals than most people know. Here's a short list of some of the lesser-known entries on the list:

bats — pteropine
bulls — taurine
crows — corvine
deer — cervine
eagles — aquiline
fish — piscine
foxes — vulpine
frogs — ranine
geese — anserine
hares — leporine
horses — equine
kangaroo — macropodine
lobster — homarine
mice — murine
peacocks — pavonine
pigs — porcine
seals — phocine
sheep — ovine
ticks — acarine
wasps — vespine
wolves — lupine

So the next time you're out in your back yard, think how impressed your next door neighbors will be when you point to a squirrel and calmly say: "My, what a fine sciurine specimen." You just can't argue with that kind of knowledge.

[redhead]

Just for fun today. Incidentally, today marks the anniversary of the ride of Paul Revere.

[SAJ]

Pine trees -- turpentine.

[AmericanMade1776]

I think I get it now... kerryasinine , hillarybovine , billlupine

[redhead]

LOL! Rats. Wasted a whole cup of coffee on my keyboard!

[Scenic Sounds]

You can blame it all on Francis:

[Fiddlstix]

.....There are -ine terms for more animals than most people know.......

And then there's that group of people known as assinine....

[Petronski]

You missed this one:


bears — ursine

[varon]

democrat --- assine

[Petronski]

Also:


donkeys — asinine
Democrats — asinine

[cripplecreek]

Democrat is to donkey is to assinine.

[Petronski]

lions — leonine

[NovemberCharlie]

goats - hircine

[redhead]

You're right! But I didn't write the article, so I'm excused.

MENTAL FLOSS is a great website with lots of TRIVIA and interesting facts about some of the darnedest stuff. Check it out every day for more fun. They even have a magazine.

[lonestar]

This is so funnyine.

[William Terrell]

Liberal = lumpine

[aomagrat]

Me after a few beers - supine

[dc-zoo]

You forgot the Ernie "Borgnine".

[AmishDude]

Hilarine?

[supercat]

And don't many golf facilities have two types of half-courses, the frontn-ine and the backn-ine?