Zooey Deschanel's 13-month-old daughter learnt to say "more cheese" as some of her first words.

She said: "She's the best. She's just so much fun.

"My husband taught her how to say 'cheese' just cause she likes cheese so much.

"This morning, I went in and it's still dark in her room and she's wearing her little jammies and still in her sleep sack and she goes, 'more... cheese!'

"I'm like, 'You didn't even have any cheese and you want more?' "

The 36-year-old star admitted the words are among her daughter's first, as well as "mama", "dada" and "bubble".

Speaking on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!', she added: "She says 'night night', too."

The show's titular host then asked the raven-haired star if she would like to take home a baby animal for her daughter as he had plenty of creatures backstage for another part of his show.

But Zooey - whose daughter's middle name is Otter - insisted she certainly wouldn't be taking away the armadillo he had on set because they can spread disease.

She added: "I don't want to take home an armadillo because they can spread leprosy.

"They are the only creature other than humans that can carry the leprosy virus so don't hug it."

Zooey recently joked Elsie sounds like a "pterodactyl" and often worries she is choking when she makes baby noises.

She said: "[Elsie] "makes a lot of little, like, pterodactyl kind of noises.

"Like 'ahh, ooh, ahh.' And a noise that sounds like choking. She'll be like 'ah, ah, ah.' And I'll be like, 'What's wrong?' and she'll be like, 'Ha, ha, ha!' "