Names that lie

Why 'Ladybugs' aren't ladies and 9 other misleading animal names!

Some animals have commonly been given names that might lead you to believe false things about them. For example, as we all know, guinea pigs are not pigs, sea horses are not horses, and starfish are neither stars nor fish. So, how did these names come to be? While lookalike allegations may justify some, others are simply far-fetched. Is there any truth or reason behind these inaccurate nicknames—like "firefly"? Let’s explore 10 animal names that are, arguably, misnomers.

Let’s start with one of the most far-fetched names on this list. Mountain chickens aren’t birds at all—they’re large frogs. And they don’t live in mountains, either. These frogs are found mostly in the Caribbean, inhabiting lowland rainforests and swamps. A more accurate and realistic name for them is "giant ditch frogs," which refers to their large size and their tendency to dwell near water bodies.

So, how did they get this name? The story goes that locals found the frog’s meat similar in taste and texture to chicken. Yes, this now critically endangered species was once considered a delicacy in local cuisines.

You would think that the red panda is just a smaller, red version of the giant panda. After all, they share cute faces, patches around their eyes, and similar snouts and ears. But you’d be wrong—red pandas are not bears.

Here’s the explanation: The word "panda" is believed to derive from the Nepali word ponya, which refers to animals with claws adapted for eating bamboo. This is the biggest trait red and giant pandas have in common: their heavily bamboo-based diets. Red pandas, sometimes nicknamed "firefoxes," belong to a mammal family of their own and are more closely related to skunks than to giant pandas.

Titmouses aren’t rodents—did you know? Instead, they are songbirds known for their gray or bluish-gray feathers. One of the most common species is the tufted titmouse, and you’ll be pleased to know that the plural form is, indeed, "titmice."

The name "titmouse" comes from Old English, where tit referred to a small creature, and mase was a general term for a bird. Over time, mase became obsolete, and "titmase" was transformed into "titmouse" due to the similarity between the words. Arguably, there’s also some physical resemblance between the gray color and beady, round eyes of both titmice and mice.

Yes, the name "electric eel" is misleading—but not for the reasons you might think. These aquatic animals are indeed capable of generating shocks of electricity, up to ​​860 volts, which they use to stun their prey or defend themselves. However, strictly speaking, they are not eels.

Unlike true eels, which belong to the family Anguillidae, electric eels are part of the knifefish family and are more closely related to catfish. Early European explorers misnamed them based on their elongated, eel-like bodies.

Seahorses are fish, just like salmon or clownfish. Arguably, they look nothing like those species. Instead, for centuries, humans have noticed their resemblance to horses. Seahorses have a distinctive upright swimming posture, elongated heads and necks, and a caudal fin that even resembles a horse’s mane.

Their scientific name, Hippocampus, is borrowed from the Ancient Greek word hippókampos. Interestingly, the term didn’t originally refer to this animal but to a mythological marine creature. In Greek, hippos means "horse," and kampos means "sea monster."

Guinea pigs aren’t pigs—nor are they from Guinea, the West African country. Instead, they are rodents native to South America. By now their name has become synonymous with "experiment subject" because of how frequently they were used in scientific research.

There are a couple of theories behind their misleading name. The "pig" part likely comes from the squealing noises they make, which resemble those of piglets. As for "guinea," it might derive from the British coin of the same name, implying they were sold for its equivalent value. Another theory is that European sailors, associating distant Guinea with anything exotic, mistakenly applied the name to these South American rodents.

The koala is often called a "koala bear," but it’s not a bear at all. European settlers in Australia gave it this name because its round face and fluffy ears reminded them of bear cubs.

Koalas are, in fact, marsupials. Like kangaroos, they carry their young in pouches. The word koala comes from the Dharug language (an Aboriginal language of Australia) and is believed to mean "no water," referring to the koala's ability to survive on eucalyptus leaves with minimal water intake. Did you know? Eucalyptus leaves are low in nutrients and mildly toxic. As a result, koalas have a slow metabolism and sleep up to 20 hours a day.

Fireflies don’t handle fire. They do, however, possess the ability to produce light, a phenomenon called bioluminescence. This light creates the illusion of tiny flames flying through the night. No wonder they have been associated with magic and fascination for centuries.

Despite their name, fireflies aren’t flies—they’re beetles. They produce light through a chemical reaction in their abdomens, which they use to attract mates or communicate. In fact, ​​different firefly species flash in distinct rhythms to help them identify each other.

The first time you hear the term "prairie dogs," you might picture packs of dogs roaming freely across the prairies. In reality, these animals are rodents and belong to the ground squirrel family.

The name is believed to have been given by early European settlers due to their high-pitched sounds. Prairie dogs are capable of producing sophisticated and varied calls to communicate with one another, sometimes sounding like man’s best friend. The "prairie" part of their name comes from their habitat—vast grasslands and prairies across North America. These rodents are expert burrowers and typically live in small family groups called "coteries," where members groom and protect each other.

It’s not only that ladybugs aren’t all female—they aren’t truly bugs, either. Instead, they are a type of beetle. These round and colorful insects have been widely associated with good luck and fortune for centuries. The reason for this has to do with the story behind their nickname.

The name "ladybug" originated in the Middle Ages, when farmers prayed to the Virgin Mary for help with pests in their crops. The beetles, which helped control aphid populations, were called "Our Lady's birds" or "Our Lady's beetles," later shortened to "ladybirds" or "ladybeetles." Over time, much to the frustration of entomologists, this evolved into the popular term "ladybugs."

ERRONEOUS ORIGINS

Uncover Ten Words That Come From Mistakes And Mistranslations

Image: Brett Jordan

We all make mistakes. That’s why pencils have erasers, right? They are part of what makes us human and have been completely intertwined with our culture and identity since the dawn of history. Like other human endeavors, language flourishes with these mistakes, as they continue to provide instances in which new words and phrases can be formed. And for that, we honor these magnificent blunders by showcasing ten words that emerged from mistakes and mistranslations.

Image: bovin wook

A chef’s best friend (or maybe yours, if you are cooking a particularly messy recipe), this piece of cooking gear is a must-have in any modern kitchen. "Apron" comes from the old French word napron, meaning "a small piece of cloth". However, once English speakers adopted this term, the phrase a napron eventually derived into an apron through a process linguists call "rebracketing."

Image: Jen Theodore

"Decoy" might make us think about spy-thrillers, filled with black cars swerving through busy streets to avoid other inconspicuous black cars, so you might be surprised to learn that this word comes from the world of duck hunting. Decoy comes from a duck-catching structure first developed in the Netherlands in the 13th century. Another case of rebracketing, the English word decoy is derived from the Dutch phrase de Kooi, meaning "the cage". Over time, the word expanded to include several other objects, from fake wooden ducks used by hunters to lure birds, to inflatable or wooden dummy tanks used in WW2.

Image: Tim Mossholder

In the United States, varsity refers to a school or university’s main athletics team, where the varsity team is composed of the very best athletes an institution can offer. The word itself is a shortening of the word university, and its use can be traced to at least the 19th century: In Arthur Conan Doyle’s "The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter", a rugby player refers to himself as part of the "Rugger team of Cambridge 'Varsity.'"

What’s interesting is wondering why this shortening of university didn’t morph into the more intuitive versity. Perhaps a regional accent influenced this misspelling? No one really knows, but now maybe you can see your old letterman jacket in a new and more mysterious way.

Image: Joshua Hoehne

"Nickname" comes from the 14th-century English word ekename, which literally means "additional name." One century later, a misdivision of the syllables of the phrase an ekename resulted in it morphing into a nekename, an early version of the word nickname. Although its spelling has changed, both the word and the pronunciation of nickname have remained almost the same since the 15th century.

Image: Volodymyr Hryshchenko

This is the only word from this list derived from an entire phrase. In 17th century France, the phrase culpable, prest d'averrer nostre bille (guilty, ready to prove our case) was used by prosecutors as an answer to a defendant’s not guilty plea. Apparently, an abbreviation for this phrase used in court records (cul.prit) was mistaken by English speakers as an address to the defendant, and so the modern meaning of the word "culprit" (a person guilty of a crime) was born.

Image: Nathan Shively

Umpires are the silent heroes of many sports. From baseball to tennis, umpires confront angry players, coaches, and fans with stern determination and resolve. They truly have no equal. Which is funny, because the origins of this word showcase their uniqueness. Our third case of rebracketing in this list, umpire comes from the French word noumpere, which can be translated to "one without equal" or "odd number" (as a tie-breaker participant). Eventually, the phrase a noumpere became an oumpere, which eventually evolved into "an umpire."

Image: Jingming Pan

This one is a bit controversial since there are two possible origins of this word. An ingot is a block of metal, typically oblong in shape, and one of its origins might be traced back to this meaning. According to some linguists, ingot comes from the Old English word geotan, meaning "to pour."Therefore, an ingot would literally refer to the mold on which liquid metal was poured.

However, the second (and frankly, more interesting) possible meaning comes from a mistranslation. The French word for ingot is lingot, derived from the Latin word for "tongue", possibly due to the shape of ingots in Medieval times. Some people believe that English speakers, knowing that the French article le (the) is sometimes contracted to an l’, thought that the word lingot literally meant "the ingot" and decided to remove the L.

Image: Hans M

This Northern Europe territory was named Scandinavia or Skandinovia by Late Latin scholars, adding an extra letter to the Germanic word Scadinavia, which might derive from an Old Norse word meaning "south end of Sweden." We might never know if that N was included by mistake or deliberately, but it’s pretty amazing how a single, additional letter determined how an entire region is named.

Image: Kenny Eliason

The origins of the mighty dollar can be traced back to 16th century Bohemia, where a nobleman known as the Count of Schlick started mining and issuing silver coins of uniform weight and shape known as Schlicken thaler or joachimsthaler. Over time, this word evolved into the German word taler, and then again into daler. Since this form of currency found its way into international markets, by the 16th century the word daler was added to the English vocabulary, where it eventually morphed into the dollar we know now.

Image: Markus Spiske

You might be surprised to learn how old this word is. After all, aren’t algorithms the backbone of all modern electronics and technology? While they certainly are, they also date back to the 9th century. The medieval Latin word algorismus comes from the name of a famous Persian mathematician, Muḥammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi. However, the part of his name that evolved into algorithm literally means "from Khwarazm" and refers to the region where he came from. Who would have guessed that a translation mistake would end up naming one of the most repeated terms in the tech world?