What does “kwal” mean in Dutch?
Eindelijk een kwal in Steken en Prikken
A2 Dutch listening practice · Dutch · Picked for people who know a little
A kwal is a jellyfish. The word does double duty: in colloquial Dutch, een kwal is also a person who’s slimy in the bad sense, an unpleasant guy you’d rather not run into. The animal itself is bijna helemaal water en een beetje gel (“almost entirely water with a bit of gel”). North Sea jellyfish wash up on Dutch beaches every summer, mostly the harmless oorkwal (moon jellyfish), occasionally the more painful kompaskwal (compass jelly).
In this NPO Zapp clip, the host of Steken en Prikken (a kids' nature show literally titled “Stings and Pricks”) celebrates that they’ve finally gotten a kwal on the program in season 5. Apparently they’re hard to collect.
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Harder words in this video
These words are harder than A2. Here is what they mean.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-NL 2014 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.
- ▸On Dutch summer-beach reportage about jellyfish blooms (NOS, AD, Het Parool)
- ▸In Dutch kids' nature TV (*Steken en Prikken, Het Klokhuis, De Buitendienst*)
- ▸On Dutch beach-safety and lifeguard sites (Reddingsbrigade Nederland, Strandweer.eu)
- ▸In Dutch slang and dictionary references (Onze Taal, Van Dale online)