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Where does the funny Dutch word ‘de neushoorn’ come from?

Published: 02/07/2020

funny Dutch word De neushoorn

The word neushoorn can be split into two separate words, de neus and de hoorn. Both words can have different meanings in Dutch:

a. De neus (m)

/nøːs/ (noun)

De neus can have two different meanings in Dutch:

  1. An organ used for breathing and to smell.
    Example: Hij heeft een lange neus. He has a long nose.
  2. The front part of an object.
    Example: De neus van het vliegtuig was beschadigd. The nose of the plane was damaged.
Nose
Train
Child nose

b. De hoorn (m)

/horn/ (noun)

De hoorn can have 5 different meanings in Dutch:

  1. Hard and usually curved protrusion at the head of various animals.
    Example: Het hert had lange hoorns. The deer had large horns.
  2. Wax that looks like a horn, for example with insects.
  3. (Mollusks) turned dish of some mollusks.
    Example: Ze zochten allerlei hoorns toen ze langs het strand liepen. They looked for all kinds of horns when they walked along the beach.
  4. An (electro) acoustic amplifier, for example the hearing and speaking part of a telephone.
    Example: Hij legde de hoorn onmiddellijk neer nadat hij hoorde wie er aan de telefoon was. He put down the receiver immediately after he heard who was on the phone.
  5. (Musical instrument) wind instrument that was originally made from a horn, but nowadays often from an injured copper tube with valves, and a wide bell.
    Example: We kunnen aardig op de hoorn spelen. We can play nicely on the horn.
Deer horns
Insect horn
Beach horn
Phone horn
Music horn

Do you like the neushoorn? You can always get his T-shirt here.

Child nose

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