What Animals Form a Bunch?
Less a formal term of venery, more a word that wandered in from the fruit bowl.
Which Animals Form a Bunch?
“Bunch” turns up as a collective noun for deer, drongos, and pigeons. It’s the term most consistently cited for drongos, an old and historically well-used alternate for deer (especially in North American hunting tradition, alongside “herd”), and a much less common, casual option for pigeons, who are usually called a flock.
Where Does “Bunch” Come From?
“Bunch” entered English in the mid-14th century, likely from an Old French dialect word derived from a Flemish term for “bundle.” Its earliest recorded sense was simply “a bundle,” and by the late 1300s it had picked up the meaning of a lump or swelling. The sense most people know today, “a cluster of things of the same kind,” like grapes or flowers, emerged in the mid-1400s. The looser, more general meaning, “a group of any kind,” didn’t arrive until the 1620s, which is the sense that eventually opened the door to phrases like “a bunch of deer.”
More About “Bunch”
Compared to the deliberately invented, sometimes theatrical terms of venery collected in the Book of Saint Albans (1486), “bunch” stands out as one of the more organic, unglamorous entries on any collective-noun list. It wasn’t coined for a particular animal at all. It simply generalized, over centuries, from “cluster of fruit” to “cluster of anything,” and animals picked it up along the way. That makes it less a clever piece of medieval wordplay and more a word that happened to be lying around when people needed one.
Animal-by-Animal Breakdown
Deer: Most commonly called a herd. “Bunch” is a genuine, long-standing alternate, particularly well established in North American hunting tradition, but it sits behind “herd” as the everyday standard.
Drongos: Most commonly listed as a bunch. Drongos are an obscure enough family of birds outside specialist ornithology and word-list references that this term isn’t deeply documented, but nothing contradicts it either, and it’s the term most consistently attached to them.
Pigeons: Most commonly called a flock, the standard term in ordinary use. More specialized words like “kit” and “loft” apply to domestic and racing pigeons specifically. “Bunch” shows up as a casual, informal alternate, but it’s far from the leading term.
🧠 Test Your Knowledge
Three quick questions. See what stuck.1. What is the standard, everyday collective noun for a group of pigeons?
2. What did “bunch” originally mean when it entered English?
3. What is the standard collective noun for a group of deer?
Frequently Asked Questions
What animals form a bunch?
Deer, drongos, and pigeons are all linked with “bunch” as a collective noun. It’s most consistently cited for drongos, a historical alternate for deer, and a less common option for pigeons.
Is “bunch” the main collective noun for deer?
No, “herd” is the standard term. “Bunch” is a well-documented historical alternate, especially in North American hunting tradition.
Is “bunch” the main collective noun for pigeons?
No. “Flock” is the standard term for pigeons. “Bunch” appears as a casual, much less common alternate.
Where does the word “bunch” come from?
It entered English in the mid-14th century, likely from an Old French dialect word tied to a Flemish term for “bundle.” Its general sense of “a group of any kind” didn’t appear until the 1620s.
Is “bunch” one of the old medieval terms of venery?
Not really. Unlike coined terms such as “a murder of crows,” “bunch” simply generalized over time from describing clusters of fruit to describing groups of almost anything, animals included.