ape

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ape,^[2] inherited from Old English apa, with a feminine ape,^[3][4][5][6] inherited from Proto-Germanic *apô,^[7][4][8][9] the source also of Old Saxon apo, Dutch aap, Old High German affo, German Affe, Old Norse api, Swedish apa and Danish abe.^{[3][4][10][5][9]} The Germanic word is probably borrowed.^[3][4][10] The OED and Etymonline compare Old Irish apa and Welsh epa, and a Slavic group with Old Czech op;^[3][4] Ayto and Orel take it as perhaps an early loan from Celtic,^[8][11] Orel citing a Hesychius gloss that names a Celtic word for long-tailed monkeys,^[11] while Klein thinks a Slavic source more likely, comparing Czech opice.^[12] Etymonline suggests the whole group is ultimately from an eastern or non-Indo-European language,^[4] and Weekley a non-Aryan one.^[13] Kroonen points to similar words for monkeys elsewhere, among them Ancient Greek κῆπος (kêpos, “long-tailed monkey”) and words in Sanskrit, Hebrew, Akkadian and Egyptian, and argues that the lack of an initial velar in Germanic means it was adopted early, as Proto-Indo-European *h₂eb- or *h₃eb-.^[9] Barnhart likewise mentions a borrowing that lost an original k.^[10] Johnson derived the word from Icelandic.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Any ape or monkey: in the Épinal Glossary,^[3] about 700 in Barnhart's dating of the Old English glossaries.^[10] An Old English medical text gives a remedy wið apan bíte, against the bite of an ape.^[15]

Semantic evolution

Until the word monkey arrived in the 16th century, ape was the only English name for any non-human primate; from about 1700 it was narrowed to the large tailless primates.^[8][16][3] The OED's first record of the zoological sense is the title of a work by Tyson of 1699.^[3] Etymonline notes that the only apes native to Europe, the Barbary apes of Gibraltar, were the showmen's apes of the Middle Ages;^[4] the MED records an ape-ward, a juggler who kept a trained monkey.^[2] Because apes were known for copying human actions, the word was used from before 1225, in the Ancrene Riwle, for a contemptible imitator,^[3][4] and between about 1330 and 1740 for a fool or dupe;^[3][4] in Chaucer's Miller's Tale she makes Absolon hir ape.^[17][18] Middle English also used it as an adjective, foolish (about 1370 to 1509).^[3] The phrase play the ape is recorded from 1579,^[3][4] and the verb to ape, to imitate, from 1632, in Massinger's The City Madam.^[10][19][3] Word Origins explains that it was formed while ape still meant "monkey", from the way monkeys mimic people.^[16] To lead apes in hell (1578) was said of a woman who died unmarried.^[3][4] The slang go ape, to go crazy, is American, by 1953 in Etymonline and 1955 in the OED;^[4][3][19] Word Origins rejects the idea that it comes from the film King Kong, since it is recorded only from the 1950s, as teenage or forces slang.^[16] In Yorkshire and Lancashire an ape was a mischievous child.^[20]

Timeline

• c. 700 – apa, ape or monkey, in the Épinal Glossary.^[3][10]
• before 1225 – a contemptible imitator.^[3]
• c. 1330 – a fool (obsolete by 1740).^[3]
• c. 1370 – adjective, foolish (obsolete by 1509).^[3]
• 1578 – to lead apes in hell, to die an old maid.^[3]
• 1579 – to play the ape, to imitate.^[3]
• 1632 – verb, to imitate, in Massinger.^[10][19]
• 1699 – a tailless primate such as the chimpanzee or orangutan.^[3]
• 1953 – go ape, to go crazy (Etymonline; 1955 in the OED).^[4][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Any of the large tailless primates of Africa and southeast Asia, such as the gorilla, chimpanzee, orangutan and gibbon.^[19][21][3]
2. Loosely, any monkey.^[21][19]
3. A person who imitates others; a mimic.^[21][3]
4. (informal) A big, clumsy or rough person.^[21][17]
5. (obsolete, 1330–1740) A fool or dupe.^[3][22]

Verb

1. To imitate or copy, especially slavishly or absurdly: The young band aped the style of their idols.^[19][21][3]

Adjective

1. (slang) go ape: to become wildly excited, angry or enthusiastic.^[19][3]

Word family

• aper
• apelike
• apish
• ape-man
• apery
• great ape
• man ape

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster also lists an unrelated ape, from Hawaiian, for certain large-leaved aroid plants grown in Hawaii, first recorded in 1886.^[19]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
12. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
16. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
17. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
18. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
19. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
20. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
21. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
22. ^ Mayhew, A. L.; Skeat, Walter W. (1888), A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580, Oxford: Clarendon Press