ape

See also: Ape, apê, apë, ápe, åpe, and a pé

English

An ape: the silvery gibbon

Pronunciation

• enPR: āp, IPA^(key): /eɪp/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪp

Etymology 1

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”), 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, ape”), Low German Ape (“ape”), German Affe (“monkey, ape”), Swedish apa (“monkey, ape”), Icelandic api (“ape”).

Noun

ape (plural apes)

1. A primate of the clade Hominoidea, generally larger than monkeys and distinguished from them by having no tail.
2. Any such primate other than a human.
3. (derogatory) An uncivilised person.
4. One who apes; a foolish imitator.

Hyponyms

• (young or small): apeling, apelet (uncommon)
• (female): apess (rare)
• See also Thesaurus:ape

Derived terms

Terms derived from ape

• ape-baboon (macaque)
• ape-bearer
• apedom
• apehood
• ape leader
• apelet
• apelike
• apeling
• apely
• apeman
• apeshit
• apess
• Barbary ape
• Bili ape
• black ape (Macaca nigra)
• go ape
• great ape
• half-ape
• lesser ape
• naked ape

Translations

animal

• Afrikaans: aap (af)
• Arabic: قِرْد‎ (ar) m (qird)

  Egyptian Arabic: قرْد‎ ('erd)

  Moroccan Arabic: قرْد‎ (qərd)

• Armenian: մարդանման կապիկ (mardanman kapik), կապիկ (hy) (kapik) (ape or monkey)
• Belarusian: ма́лпа (be) f (málpa) (ape or monkey)
• Bulgarian: майму́на (bg) f (majmúna) (ape or monkey)
• Catalan: mico (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Dungan: жынху (řɨnhu) (人猴)

  Mandarin: 猿 (zh) (yuán), 無尾猿 (zh), 无尾猿 (zh) (wúwěiyuán), 類人猿 (zh), 类人猿 (zh) (lèirényuán)

• Coptic: ⲉⲛ m (en)
• Czech: opice (cs) f
• Danish: abe (da) c
• Dutch: aap (nl) m, apin (nl) f, mensaap (nl) m
• Esperanto: homoideo
• Estonian: ahv (et)
• Faroese: apa (fo) f
• Finnish: apina (fi), ihmisapina (fi) (scientific)
• French: singe (fr) m, hominoïdé m, singe anthropoïde m
• Galician: simio m
• Georgian: მაიმუნი (ka) (maimuni)
• German: Affe (de) m (ape or monkey), Menschenaffe (de) m (ape specifically)
• Greek: πίθηκος (el) m (píthikos)

  Ancient: πῐ́θηκος m (píthēkos)

• Hebrew: קוף‎ (he) m (qof) (ape or monkey), קוף אדם‎ m (qof-adám) (ape specifically)
• Hindi: कपि (hi) m (kapi), वानर (hi) m (vānar)
• Hungarian: majom (hu), emberszabású majom (hu)
• Icelandic: api (is) m
• Indonesian: kera (id)
• Irish: ápa m
• Italian: scimmia (it) f, ominide (it) m
• Japanese: 猿 (ja) (さる, saru) (ape or monkey), サル (ja) (saru), 類人猿 (ja) (るいじんえん, ruijin'en)
• Khmer: ស្វា (km) (svaa)
• Korean: (ape or monkey) 원숭이 (ko) (wonsung-i), 유인원 (ko) (yu-inwon) (類人猿 (ko))
• Latin: sīmia (la) f, sīmius m, clūra f
• Lithuanian: beždžiõnė (lt) f, (member of the family Pongidae) žmõgbeždžionė f
• Low German:

  German Low German: Aap (nds) m, Oop (nds) m

• Luxembourgish: Af m
• Macedonian: мајмун m (majmun)
• Malay: mawas
• Maltese: xadin
• Maori: makimaki
• Mongolian: сармагчин (mn) (sarmagchin)
• Navajo: mágí
• Ngazidja Comorian: nkima 9 or 10
• Norman: marmoûset m
• North Frisian: (Mooring) ååwe n; (Föhr-Amrum) aab n
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ape (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: ape m or f

• Old English: apa m
• Oromo: qamalee (om)
• Persian: بوزینه‎ (fa) (buzine), کپی‎ (fa) (kapi)
• Plautdietsch: Op f
• Polish: małpa (pl) f (ape or monkey), małpa człekokształtna f
• Portuguese: macaco (pt) m
• Romanian: maimuță (ro) f
• Russian: обезья́на (ru) f (obezʹjána) (ape or monkey), человекообра́зная обезья́на f (čelovekoobráznaja obezʹjána)
• Sanskrit: कपि (sa) m (kapi)
• Saterland Frisian: Oape
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мајмун m

  Roman: majmun (sh) m

• Slovak: opica (sk) f
• Slovene: opica (sl) f
• Spanish: primate (es) m
• Swedish: människoapa c, apa (sv) c (ape or monkey)
• Tagalog: bakulaw, ugaw (big)
• Tajik: маймун (tg) (maymun)
• Thai: ลิงไม่มีหาง (ling-mâi-mii-hǎang), ลิง (th) (ling) (ape or monkey), จ๋อ (jɔ̌ɔ) (ape or monkey)
• Tibetan: མི་རྒོད (mi rgod)
• Turkish: insansı maymun (tr)
• Ukrainian: ма́впа (uk) f (mávpa) (ape or monkey)
• Vietnamese: vượn (vi)
• Volapük: lep (vo)
• Walloon: mårticot (wa) m, séndje (wa) m
• West Frisian: aap (fy) c
• Zulu: please add this translation if you can

derogatory: person

• Catalan: simi (ca) m, mico (ca) m, primat m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: apina (fi)
• German: Affe (de) m
• Greek: πίθηκος (el) m (píthikos)
• Hungarian: majom (hu)
• Italian: scimmione m

• Low German:

  German Low German: Aap (nds) m, Oop (nds) m

• Macedonian: мајмун m (majmun)
• Portuguese: macaco (pt) m, primata (pt) m
• Russian: обезья́на (ru) f (obezʹjána)
• Spanish: simio (es) m, mono (es), primate (es) m

Verb

ape (third-person singular simple present apes, present participle aping or apeing, simple past and past participle aped)

1. (intransitive) To behave like an ape.
2. (transitive) To imitate or mimic, particularly to imitate poorly.
   • 1847, Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights, chapter XXI:

     But there’s this difference; one is gold put to the use of paving-stones, and the other is tin polished to ape a service of silver.

   • 1961, J. A. Philip, "Mimesis in the Sophistês of Plato," Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, vol. 92, p. 454,

     It is not conceived as a mere “aping” in externals nor as an enacting in the sense of assuming a foreign role.

   • 2010, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, New York: Random House, →ISBN, page 180:

     Every year a paper or a book appears, bemoaning the fate of economics and complaining about its attempts to ape physics.

Derived terms

• aper

Translations

to behave like an ape

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: käyttäytyä kuin apina

• Hungarian: majomkodik
• Portuguese: macaquear
• Spanish: monear (es)

to imitate

• Bulgarian: подражавам (bg) (podražavam)
• Catalan: imitar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: na-apen (nl), nadoen (nl), nabootsen (nl), imiteren (nl)
• Esperanto: simii
• Finnish: matkia (fi), apinoida (fi)
• French: singer (fr)
• German: nachäffen (de)
• Greek: πιθηκίζω (el) (pithikízo)
• Hungarian: majmol (hu)

• Icelandic: apa eftir
• Italian: scimmiottare (it)
• Japanese: 猿真似する (ja) (sarumane suru)
• Persian: کپی کردن‎ (fa) (kapi kardan), تقلید کردن‎ (fa) (taqlid kardan)
• Polish: małpować (pl), imitować (pl)
• Portuguese: imitar (pt), macaquear
• Romanian: imita (ro), maimuțări (ro)
• Russian: (act the ape) обезья́нничать (ru) (obezʹjánničatʹ), подража́ть (ru) (podražátʹ)
• Spanish: remedar (es), imitar (es)
• Swedish: härma (sv), apa efter (sv)
• Ukrainian: мавпувати (mavpuvaty)

Etymology 2

Clipping of apeshit (“ape-shit (crazy)”).

Adjective

ape (not comparable)

1. (slang) Wild; crazy.

   We were ape over the new look.

   He went ape when he heard the bad news.

See also

• monkey
• troop (collective noun)
• Appendix: Animals

Anagrams

• EAP, EPA, PAE, PEA, Pae, Pea, pea

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Aromanian

Etymology

From Latin aqua

Noun

ape f (plural api, definite articulation apa)

1. Alternative form of apã

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Afrikaans

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑː.pə/

Noun

ape

1. plural of aap

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Corsican

Noun

ape

1. plural of apa

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Finnish

(index ap)

Etymology

appaa +‎ -e

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑpeˣ/, [ˈɑpe̞(ʔ)]
• Rhymes: -ɑpe
• Syllabification: a‧pe

Noun

ape

1. horse feed
2. (colloquial) food

Declension

Inflection of ape (Kotus type 48/hame, pp-p gradation)
nominative		ape	appeet
genitive		appeen	appeiden appeitten
partitive		apetta	appeita
illative		appeeseen	appeisiin appeihin
		singular	plural
nominative		ape	appeet
accusative	nom.	ape	appeet
	gen.	appeen
genitive		appeen	appeiden appeitten
partitive		apetta	appeita
inessive		appeessa	appeissa
elative		appeesta	appeista
illative		appeeseen	appeisiin appeihin
adessive		appeella	appeilla
ablative		appeelta	appeilta
allative		appeelle	appeille
essive		appeena	appeina
translative		appeeksi	appeiksi
instructive		—	appein
abessive		appeetta	appeitta
comitative		—	appeineen

Possessive forms of ape (type hame)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	appeeni	appeemme
2nd person	appeesi	appeenne
3rd person	appeensa

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Interlingua

Noun

ape (plural apes)

1. bee

Related terms

• apicultura

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Italian

Etymology

From Latin apis, apem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈa.pe/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ape

Noun

ape f (plural api)

1. (entomology) bee

   Synonym: pecchia

2. (colloquial) honeybee

   Synonyms: ape da miele, ape domestica

Related terms

• ape regina
• apiario
• apicoltura
• apino
• apiterapia

 

Further reading

• ape on the Italian Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^it

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Latin

Verb

ape

1. second-person singular present active imperative of apō

References

• ape in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

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Mauritian Creole

Alternative forms

• pe

Etymology

From French après. Compare Haitian Creole ap.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /(a)pe/

Verb

ape (medial form ape)

1. (auxiliary) Used to indicate present progressive tense or the continuous tense in general, commonly shortened to "pe" in speech.

Related terms

• ti ape

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• eape, aape

Etymology

From Old English apa, from Proto-West Germanic *apō, from Proto-Germanic *apô.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaːp(ə)/

Noun

ape (plural apes or apen)

1. An ape or monkey; a simian creature.
2. A deceiver; a conman or charlatan.
3. A gullible or foolish person.

Descendants

• English: ape
• Scots: ape, aip

References

• “āpe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-15.

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Neapolitan

Noun

ape

1. plural of apa

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Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aːpe/

Etymology 1

From Old Norse api.

Noun

ape f or m (definite singular apa or apen, indefinite plural aper, definite plural apene)

1. ape, monkey

Related terms

• apekatt
• primat

Etymology 2

Verb

ape (imperative ap, present tense aper, passive apes, simple past apa or apet or apte, past participle apa or apet or apt, present participle apende)

1. to ape, mimic or imitate.

References

• “ape” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From Old Norse api.

Noun

ape m (definite singular apen, indefinite plural apar, definite plural apane)

ape f (definite singular apa, indefinite plural aper, definite plural apene)

1. ape, monkey

Related terms

• apekatt
• primat

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

• apa

Verb

ape (present tense apar or aper, past tense apa or apte, past participle apa or apt, passive infinitive apast, present participle apande, imperative ap)

1. to ape, mimic or imitate.

References

• “ape” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈape]

Noun

ape f pl

1. plural of apă