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jackanapes.

(A proper name for) an ape or monkey, especially a tame one kept for entertainment or as a pet.

10 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈd͡ʒækəneɪps/Received-Pronunciation/ˈd͡ʒækəˌneɪps/General-American
  1. (A proper name for) an ape or monkey, especially a tame one kept for entertainment or as a pet.

    obsolete
  2. (A proper name for) a person thought to behave like an ape or monkey, for example, in being impudent, mischievous, vain, etc.; specifically (chiefly humorous), an impudent or mischievous child.

    broadly · dated · derogatory
  3. A crucifix.

    broadly · derogatory · obsolete · rare
  4. A small pulley which keeps a rope in line when lifting ore, water, etc., from a mine.

    broadly · obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English iack napys, iac nape, iac napes (“derogatory nickname of the English military commander and statesman William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk (1396–1450)”), probably from Jacun or Jakin (“pet forms of the male name Jack”) + ape (“ape, monkey”) + -s (possibly modelled after surnames such as Hobbes and Jakkes), referring to Suffolk’s heraldic badge which was an ape’s chain and clog (“weight such as a block of wood or log attached to an animal to hinder motion”) (see the image, right). It is uncertain whether the word was first coined as a nickname for Suffolk (the earliest known uses), or to refer to an ape or an ape-like person. If the word was originally a nickname, some early uses of etymology 1 sense 2.1 (“person thought to behave like an ape or monkey”) may allude to Suffolk who was widely regarded as an upstart, having risen from the merchant class. In later uses, the middle element of the word was often treated as the indefinite article a or an, that is, as if the word meant “Jack, an ape”.

noun/ˈd͡ʒækəneɪps/Received-Pronunciation/ˈd͡ʒækəˌneɪps/General-American
  1. plural of jackanape

    form-of · plural
Where this word comes from

From jackanape + -s (suffix forming regular plurals of nouns).

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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.