ape.
An anthropoid of the superfamily Hominoidea, generally larger than monkeys and distinguished from them by having no tail.
Meaning & usage
An anthropoid of the superfamily Hominoidea, generally larger than monkeys and distinguished from them by having no tail.
A Hominoidea primate other than a human.
An unintelligent or unsophisticated person, especially one who behaves irrationally or in an uncivilised manner.
An unintelligent or unsophisticated person, especially one who behaves irrationally or in an uncivilised manner. A black person.
One who apes; a foolish imitator.
A person who invests in meme stock, especially one who uses subreddits such as /r/wallstreetbets.
Where this word comes from
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, 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”).
To behave like an ape.
To imitate or mimic, particularly to imitate poorly.
Where this word comes from
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, 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”).
Wild; crazy.
We were ape over the new look.
He went ape when he heard the bad news.
Where this word comes from
Clipping of apeshit (“ape-shit (crazy)”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.