What is a “vingerdier” in Dutch?
Drie enge dieren die er echt bestaan
A2 Dutch listening practice · Dutch from the Netherlands · Curated for beginners
Counting down three genuinely scary real animals, the clip introduces one with a wonderfully plain name: «Het vingerdier is een maki die leeft in Madagascar» (“the vingerdier is a lemur that lives in Madagascar”). A vingerdier is an aye-aye, literally a “finger-animal,” named for its long, spindly middle finger.
This is Dutch animal-naming at its best: blunt, descriptive compounds. The koboldhaai (also in the clip) is a “goblin shark”; elsewhere a nijlpaard is a “Nile horse” (hippo), a wasbeer a “wash bear” (raccoon), a stinkdier a “stink animal” (skunk). Learn the parts and you can often guess the beast.
Vocabulary frequency
How common is the vocabulary in this A2 Dutch listening practice listening practice?
General Dutch frequency
Spoken Dutch frequency
Words above this video’s level
Quick glosses for vocabulary that goes beyond this video’s A2 level.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-NL 2014 (spoken). Buckets approximate; exact ranks not stored.
- ▸In Dutch nature and animal-fact videos.
- ▸Alongside Dutch compounds: nijlpaard (hippo), wasbeer (raccoon), stinkdier (skunk).
- ▸In Dutch zoos and natuurdocumentaires (nature docs).
- ▸In Dutch children’s books naming the animal kingdom.