Shrewdness, siege, business, and other words for animal groups

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Handpicked from our Blog for you• Jul 4, 2026

A group of what? Shrewdness, siege, business, and other words for animal groups 3 min. A shrewdness? A murder? An unkindness? None of these words even suggests that we are talking about apes, crows, or ravens, but we are. Why are animal collective nouns so strange? During the Middle Ages, English nobles developed a hunting language. These ‘terms of venery’ were not intended to be practical, but to show erudition and mastery of an elite code. Some of these names were adopted into everyday language and continue to be used nowadays. Read full article

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