English Explanatory Dictionary

monkey

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A member of the clade Simiiformes other than those in the clade Hominoidea containing apes, generally (but not universally) distinguished by small size, tails, and cheek pouches.
  2. Any simian, including humans.
  3. Any simian primate other than hominids; any monkey or ape.
  4. A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including:
  5. A naughty or mischievous person, especially a child.
  6. The person in the motorcycle sidecar in sidecar racing.
  7. Synonym of idiot: a person of minimal intelligence.
  8. Synonym of uggo: an unattractive person, especially one whose face supposedly resembles a monkey's.
  9. Synonym of puppet: a person dancing to another's tune, a person controlled or directed by another.
  10. A menial employee who does a repetitive job supposedly requiring minimal intelligence.
  11. A black person.
  12. A penis.
verb
  1. To meddle; to mess (with).
  2. To mimic; to ape.
name
  1. The ninth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.

Pronunciation

/ˈmʌŋki/ En-us-monkey.ogg /ˈmʊŋki/

Word forms

monkey monkeys monkies monkeying monkeyed monkied

Etymology

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 been borrowed from Italian monna (“monkey”), from Old Spanish mona (“female monkey”), itself a shortening of mamona, variant of maimón, from Arabic مَيْمُون (maymūn, “baboon”)). *** However, Old French monnekin may alternatively be unrelated to the other terms, instead being a borrowing of Early Middle Dutch mannekin (a diminutive of man, literally “little human”), and if so monkey is a doublet of mannequin; see modern Dutch manneken.

Synonyms

monkey idiot uggo puppet five hundred face card interfere fiddle

Related words

ape primate

Derived words

antimonkey Azara's night monkey baboon-monkey bare-eared squirrel monkey barrel of monkeys bleeding-heart monkey bleed the monkey blue monkey bonnet monkey brass monkey brown woolly monkey Burmese snub-nosed monkey butt monkey capuchin monkey cheeky monkey cheese-eating surrender monkey cheese monkey chunky monkey code monkey cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey common squirrel monkey de Brazza's monkey diademed monkey diadem monkey Diana monkey dusky leaf monkey get one's monkey up give a monkey's Goeldi's monkey golden monkey golden palace monkey grease monkey grease-monkey green monkey green monkey disease Hamlyn's monkey hare-lipped monkey Hartlepool monkey hog-monkey hosemonkey howler monkey hundredth monkey hybrid monkey ice monkey if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys I'll be a monkey's uncle infinite monkey theorem inquisitive monkey Japanese monkey juice monkey leaf monkey left-handed monkey wrench lesser spot-nosed monkey like a monkey on a stick like butter on a bald monkey Madidi titi monkey make a monkey of make a monkey out of monke monkey about
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