chimpanzee

English
A chimpanzee

Alternative forms

Etymology

The first recorded use of the name chimpanzee dates to 1738. The name is derived from an unspecified Bantu language of Angola (compare Vili ci-mpenzi), probably brought to the English language via French chimpanzé.[1]

Pronunciation
  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /t͡ʃɪmˈpæn.zi/, /ˌt͡ʃɪm.pənˈziː/, /ˌt͡ʃɪm.pænˈziː/
  • Audio (US)(file)

Noun

chimpanzee (plural chimpanzees)

  1. Pan troglodytes, a species of great ape in the genus Pan, native to Africa, and believed by biologists to be the closest extant relative to humans along with the bonobo.
    Synonym: chimp
    Hyponyms: blackback, silverback
    Holonym: chimpkind
  2. (broadly) A member of the genus Pan, including the bonobo which was formerly known as the pygmy chimpanzee.

Derived terms

Translations

References
  1. “chimpanzee”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
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