What is a “vingerdier” in Dutch?
Drie enge dieren die er echt bestaan
A2 Dutch listening practice · Dutch from the Netherlands · Picked for people who know a little
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.
How common are the words?
How common are the words in this A2 Dutch listening practice video?
How common in written Dutch
How common in spoken Dutch
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.
- ▸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.