monkey.
A member of the clade Simiiformes other than those in the clade Hominoidea containing apes, generally (but not universally) distinguished by small size, tails, and cheek pouches.
Meaning & usage
A member of the clade Simiiformes other than those in the clade Hominoidea containing apes, generally (but not universally) distinguished by small size, tails, and cheek pouches.
He had been visiting an area zoo when a monkey swung from its tree perch, swiped his glasses and hurled them into a hippo hole.
Any simian, including humans.
Any simian primate other than hominids; any monkey or ape.
Chimpanzees are known to form bands to hunt and kill other monkeys.
A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including: A naughty or mischievous person, especially a child.
Stop misbehaving, you cheeky little monkey!
A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including: The person in the motorcycle sidecar in sidecar racing.
A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including: Synonym of idiot: a person of minimal intelligence.
A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including: Synonym of uggo: an unattractive person, especially one whose face supposedly resembles a monkey's.
A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including: Synonym of puppet: a person dancing to another's tune, a person controlled or directed by another.
No, no, no, not you. I want to talk to the organ grinder, not the monkey.
A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including: A menial employee who does a repetitive job supposedly requiring minimal intelligence.
code monkey
grease monkey
A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including: A black person.
A penis.
A small trading vessel of the sixteenth century.
The vessel in which a mess receives its full allowance of grog.
The weight of a pile driver or drop hammer.
A fluid consisting of hydrochloric acid and zinc, used in the process of soldering.
Synonym of five hundred, especially (UK) 500 pounds sterling or (US, dated) 500 dollars.
Synonym of face card.
A person's temper, said to be "up" when they are angry.
A drug habit; an addiction; a compulsion.
Everybody's got something to hide except for me and my monkey.
A dance popularized by Major Lance in 1963, now usually only its upper-body dance move involving exaggerated drumming motions.
Where this word comes from
Uncertain: * May be derived from monk + -ey (diminutive suffix), * or borrowed from Middle Low German Moneke, the name of the son of Martin the Ape in Reynard the Fox (which may represent an unattested colloquial Middle Low German *moneke, *moneken), itself of uncertain origin: ** Possibly derived from a Romance term represented by Late Middle French monne (whence Modern French mone (“monkey”)) or earlier Old French monnekin (“monkey”), originally Monnekin, the name of a monkey in Li Dis d'Entendement. Compare also Old French and Middle French monin (“monkey”). *** The French terms may have been borrowed from Italian monna (“monkey”), from Old Spanish mona (“female monkey”), itself a shortening of mamona, variant of maimón, from Arabic مَيْمُون (maymūn, “baboon”)). *** However, Old French monnekin may alternatively be unrelated to the other terms, instead being a borrowing of Early Middle Dutch mannekin (a diminutive of man, literally “little human”), and if so monkey is a doublet of mannequin; see modern Dutch manneken.
To meddle; to mess (with).
Please don't monkey with the controls if you don't know what you're doing.
To mimic; to ape.
Where this word comes from
Uncertain: * May be derived from monk + -ey (diminutive suffix), * or borrowed from Middle Low German Moneke, the name of the son of Martin the Ape in Reynard the Fox (which may represent an unattested colloquial Middle Low German *moneke, *moneken), itself of uncertain origin: ** Possibly derived from a Romance term represented by Late Middle French monne (whence Modern French mone (“monkey”)) or earlier Old French monnekin (“monkey”), originally Monnekin, the name of a monkey in Li Dis d'Entendement. Compare also Old French and Middle French monin (“monkey”). *** The French terms may have been borrowed from Italian monna (“monkey”), from Old Spanish mona (“female monkey”), itself a shortening of mamona, variant of maimón, from Arabic مَيْمُون (maymūn, “baboon”)). *** However, Old French monnekin may alternatively be unrelated to the other terms, instead being a borrowing of Early Middle Dutch mannekin (a diminutive of man, literally “little human”), and if so monkey is a doublet of mannequin; see modern Dutch manneken.
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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.