Animals are where Somali vocabulary and Somali culture meet. The camel, geel, appears in proverbs, poetry and wedding gifts; goats and sheep are counted in the countryside stories children grow up with; and lions, leopards and elephants fill the folk tales grandparents tell.
Tap a card for the meaning, examples and a native recording.
| Somali | English | Say it | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Libaax | Lion | li-BAAH | |
| Maroodi | Elephant | ma-ROO-di | |
| Shabeel | Tiger | sha-BEEL | |
| Haramcad | Leopard | ha-RAM-'ad | |
| Dawaco | Fox | da-WA-'o | |
| Daanyeer | Monkey | DAAN-yeer | |
| Dameer Farow | Zebra | da-MEER FA-row | |
| Mas | Snake | MAS | |
| Geel | Camel | GEEL | |
| Sac | Cow | SA' | |
| Ri | Goat | RI | |
| Lax | Sheep | LAH | |
| Dibi | Bull | DI-bi | |
| Doofaar | Pig | DOO-faar | |
| Dameer | Donkey | da-MEER | |
| Bisad | Cat | BI-sad | |
| Ey | Dog | EY | |
| Shimbir | Bird | SHIM-bir | |
| Dabaggaalle / Qoodow | Squirrel | da-bag-GAAL-le | |
| Rah | Frog | RAH |
This topic covers wild animals, farm animals, pets and a few others, twenty in total. Several have regional variants, and shabeel and haramcad in particular are used differently in different parts of the Somali world, which we note on the individual pages.
In the app, Animals is also a game: Animal Trails asks children to meet each animal and guide it to the right group, so the words are learned by sorting rather than by rote.
20 entries in the Animals topic, each with a picture, native-speaker audio and a quiz in the app.
Yes. Every entry on this page plays a recording by a Somali speaker; nothing is synthesized.
Tap each word to hear it, say it back together, then take the Animals quiz in the Luuqad app and play Baadiyo Journey.
Libaax, Maroodi, Shabeel, Haramcad, Dawaco, Daanyeer and more. Then take the quiz in the app.
