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In Spanish, nouns have a gender: masculine or feminine. For students, it can be strange when animals are sometimes “he” or “she” by default. For example, in English we say the spider, and it can be male or female, but in Spanish it is always la araña (feminine). On the other hand, el pez, el pescado is masculine. And sometimes, when we want to be specific, Spanish uses a totally different word for the male and the female of the same animal. For example: el caballo (male horse) and la yegua (mare, female horse). For animals, male is macho and female is hembra.
Here is a table to help you see the patterns and also the exceptions.
Table of Animals and Their Gender in Spanish
| Animal in Spanish | Default gender (Generic) | Female Form (if different) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| la rata | Feminine | — | Rat (female by default). People don’t say el rato for male, and el ratón is a mouse. People might say la rata macho (male rat) |
| la araña | Feminine | — | Spider (always feminine) |
| la serpiente | Feminine | — | Snake (always feminine) |
| la víbora | Feminine | — | Another word for snake |
| la culebra | Feminine | — | Another word for snake |
| la tarántula | Feminine | — | Tarantula |
| la hormiga | Feminine | — | Ant |
| la abeja | Feminine | — | Bee (never el abejo). |
| la cucaracha | Feminine | — | Cockroach |
| la mariposa | Feminine | — | Butterfly. Mariposo might be a derogatory euphemism |
| la mosca | Feminine | — | Fly, feminine. El mosco would be a mosquito, different insect |
| el mosquito | Masculine | — | Mosquito, masculine |
| el oso | Masculine | la osa | Bear |
| el perro | Masculine | la perra | Dog |
| el gato | Masculine | la gata | Cat |
| el caballo | Masculine | la yegua | Horse (different word for female, just like in English) |
| la jirafa | Feminine | — | No “el jirafo” in Spanish |
| el pez, el pescado | Masculine | — | Fish. No “la peza” in Spanish |
| la rana | Feminine | — | frog |
| el sapo | Masculine | — | toad |
| la paloma | Feminine | el palomo, by default it’s la paloma, feminine, when you don’t know the gender. | Pigeon/Dove |
| el pichón | Masculine | la pichona | Young pigeon |
| la capibara | Feminine | — | In some regions also called el carpincho |
| el borrego (MX) | Masculine | — | Sheep |
| la oveja | Feminine | — | Sheep |
| el toro | Masculine | la vaca | Bull and cow |
| el gallo | Masculine | la gallina | Rooster and hen. For chicken you could say pollo, polla, pollito, pollita. For food it is called pollo. |
| el pato | Masculine | la pata | Duck |
| el león | Masculine | la leona | Lion |
| el tigre | Masculine | la tigresa | Tiger |
| el elefante | Masculine | la elefanta | Elephant |
| el ratón | Masculine | la ratona (You can be more specific if you happen to know the gender) | Mouse |
| el ciervo, el venado (MX) | Masculine | la cierva, la venada | Deer |
| el burro | Masculine | la burra | Donkey |
So for students, this can be confusing. Sometimes the word is always feminine (la araña, la culebra). Sometimes it is always masculine (el caballo) for the generic animal unless you want to point out that it’s female (la yegua). And in other cases, there are two completely different words depending on the sex of the animal (el toro – la vaca). The important thing is to learn them case by case, because Spanish doesn’t always follow one rule with animals. Also, these animal names can change in different countries or regions and these rules could be flexible depending on specific situations (zoo, research, pets, etc.)
Mexican telenovela actress Aracely Arámbula called her ex, singer Luis Miguel, El Rey Cucaracho, which sounded very unusual but at the same time very funny because no one says cucaracho. Cucarachas are always female in the minds of spanish-speaking people. This is the King Male Cockroach. She received an ovation:
