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ape

Pronunciation: /eɪp/

The English word “ape” has 9 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. An anthropoid of the superfamily Hominoidea, generally larger than monkeys and distinguished from them by having no tail.
  2. A Hominoidea primate other than a human.
  3. An unintelligent or unsophisticated person, especially one who behaves irrationally or in an uncivilised manner.
  4. A black person.
  5. One who apes; a foolish imitator.
  6. A person who invests in meme stock, especially one who uses subreddits such as /r/wallstreetbets.

verb

  1. To behave like an ape.
  2. To imitate or mimic, particularly to imitate poorly.

adjective

  1. Wild; crazy.

Etymology

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,…

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