monkey

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A small to medium-sized animal that usually has a long tail and lives mainly in trees.

   A monkey swung from branch to branch above our heads.

2. 2
   noun

   A playful or naughty child (informal).

   Stop jumping on the bed, you cheeky little monkey!

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Monkey has been used in English since the mid-16th century, but its origin is unknown despite several proposed explanations. The older word ape had previously served as the general English term for both apes and monkeys.

Uncertain: * May be derived from monk + -ey (diminutive suffix), * or borrowed from Middle Low German Moneke, the name of the son of Martin the Ape in Reynard the Fox (which may represent an unattested colloquial Middle Low German *moneke, *moneken), itself of uncertain origin: ** Possibly derived from a Romance term represented by Late Middle French monne (whence Modern French mone (“monkey”)) or earlier Old French monnekin (“monkey”), originally Monnekin, the name of a monkey in Li Dis d'Entendement. Compare also Old French and Middle French monin (“monkey”). *** The French terms may have be…

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