ape

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A large primate such as a gorilla or chimpanzee, without a tail.

   Gorillas and chimpanzees are the largest apes.

2. 2
   verb

   To copy or imitate someone, often badly.

   My younger brother apes everything I do.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Ape is an Old English word that originally covered monkeys as well as apes; this broader use continued until monkey entered English in the 16th century. The verb meaning “imitate unthinkingly” arose while ape could still mean “monkey,” reflecting monkeys’ mimicry of human actions.

From Middle English ape, from Old English apa (“ape, monkey”), from Proto-West Germanic *apō, from Proto-Germanic *apô (“monkey, ape”), possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep- (“water”), compare Proto-Celtic *abū (“river”) (hence English place name Avon, Irish abha, Welsh afon), if the word originally referred to a "water sprite". Traditionally assumed to be an ancient loanword instead, ultimately probably from an unidentified non-Indo-European language of regions in Africa or Asia where monkeys are native. Cognate with Scots aip (“ape”), West Frisian aap (“ape”), Dutch aap (“monkey,…

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
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