[33 WORDS] - What do animals say in English?

Hi, and welcome to the Espresso English Podcast, where you can improve your English in just a few minutes a day. My name is Shayna, and I'm the teacher at Espresso English. Make sure to visit the website, EspressoEnglish.net, where you can get online courses and e-books that will help you learn English even faster. Let's get started with today's lesson. Do you know what animals say in English? We're going to learn 33 fun animal words today, including some interesting slang. Make sure to download the free PDF of this lesson by clicking on the link in the video description. We'll start with my favorite animal, the cat. Cats say "meow," but this is not the only sound a cat makes. When a cat is happy and relaxed, it makes a soft sound while breathing. This is called purring. When a cat is angry, it can make a sound like ss. This is called hissing. That's also what a snake does. The hair on a cat's body is called fur, and the long white hairs on a cat's face are called whiskers. Now let's learn a slang word. If you describe a person as catty, it means they are subtly cruel and malicious. Maybe you're more of a dog person. In English, dogs say woof woof. This is called barking. When a dog is angry, it makes a sound like rrr. This is called growling. When a dog sings at the moon, making a sound like awoo, this is called howling. Here's another slang expression. If someone is the top dog, it means they are the most important or most powerful person in a group. Birds in English say tweet. Other words that describe the sound a bird makes are chirping and singing. A bird's house, made of small sticks, is called a nest. A bird's body is covered in feathers, and its mouth is called a beak. If we say someone eats like a bird, it means they eat very little food. How about a horse? In English, a horse says nay. Other words that describe the sound a horse can make are winny and snort, a horse snorts when it's annoyed. When a horse is walking at medium speed, we say it is trotting. When a horse is running faster, then it is galloping. When you get up and sit on top of a horse, you mount the horse. And when the horse starts walking, then you are riding the horse. Now, what does it mean to beat a dead horse? This expression refers to wasting time doing something that was already tried. Let's look at a sheep. In English, sheep say ba. This sound is called bleeding. A sheep's body is covered in wool. The process of cutting the wool off is called shearing the sheep. One thing to know is that sheep is the same, whether singular or plural. One sheep, two sheep. And if we describe someone as sheepish, it means they are shy or a little bit embarrassed. Finally, we've got a rooster, which says cock-a-doodle-doo. When the rooster does this, we say the rooster is crowing. The male is called a rooster or cock. The female is called a hen. And it can also make a sound called clucking, cluck-cluck. When the hen produces eggs, we say she is laying eggs. When the eggs open and the baby comes out, we say the eggs hatch. The baby is called a chick. Our final slang word is saying someone is chicken. That means they are afraid. Or if someone doesn't do something because of fear, we can say they chickened out. I hope you won't chicken out when it comes to practicing your English. My courses can help you build confidence. Visit my website at espressoenglish.net to see all the different ways we can help you with your English. Before you go, make sure to download today's free PDF to review all these animal words. And let me know in the comments what the animals sound like in your native language. Thanks for joining me, and I'll talk to you next time. If you want more great English lessons, visit espressoenglish.net, where you can sign up by email to receive a free e-book with 500-plus real English phrases. You'll also find online courses to help you improve your English fast, even if you don't have much time to study. Keep practicing your English, and I hope you have a wonderful day. [Music]