Collective Nouns

I’ve been getting into that oddity that is collective nouns recently, and thought I’d share this summary with you.

Collective Nouns

Nouns form the names of people, places, animals and things. Collective nouns are a special class of nouns that form the names of groups of people, animals and things. The following are examples of collective nouns.

Collective Nouns for People

The following list contains collective nouns for groups of people. Many collective nouns for people are based on professions, family, nationality and gender.

Acrobats – A troupe of acrobats

Actors – A cast of actors

Athletes – A team of athletes

Comedians – A gaggle of comedians

Hedonists – A debauchery of hedonists

People – A crowd of people

Thieves – a gang of thieves

Experts – a panel of experts

Judges – a panel of judges

Directors – a board of directors

Idiots – a bunch of idiots

Collective Nouns for Animals

Collective nouns for animals in the English language date back hundreds of years. The list bellow contains some modern collective nouns used today and also some of the older terms that are not often used.

Bats – a colony of bats

Bees – a hive of bees

Birds – a flock of birds

Cattle – a herd of cattle

Crows – a murder of crows

Dogs – a pack of dogs

Dolphins – a school of dolphins

Elephants – a herd of elephants

Fish – a shoal of fish

Geese – a gaggle of geese

Gorillas – a band of gorillas

Insects – a swarm of insects

Lions – a pride of lions

Monkeys – a troop of monkeys

Owls – a parliament of owls

Rhinoceroses – a crash of rhinoceroses

Sheep – a flock of sheep

Wolves – a pack of wolves

Collective Nouns for Things

The following is a list of collective nouns for groups of things.

Bananas – a bunch of bananas

Cars – a fleet of cars

Cards – a deck of cards

Drinks – a round of drinks

Ghosts – a fright of ghosts

Mountains – a range of mountains

Notes – a wad of notes

Riches – an embarrassment of riches

Ships – a flotilla of ships

Trees – a forest of trees