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Synonyms for monkey

Grammar : Noun, verb
Spell : muhng-kee
Phonetic Transcription : ˈmʌŋ ki

Top 10 synonyms for monkey
Other synonyms for the word monkey

Définition of monkey

Origin :
  • 1520s, likely from an unrecorded Middle Low German *moneke or Middle Dutch *monnekijn, a colloquial word for "monkey," originally a diminutive of some Romanic word, cf. French monne (16c.); Middle Italian monnicchio, from Old Italian monna; Spanish mona "ape, monkey." In a 1498 Low German version of the popular medieval beast story "Roman de Renart" ("Reynard the Fox"), Moneke is the name given to the son of Martin the Ape; transmission of the word to English might have been via itinerant entertainers from the German states.
  • The Old French form of the name is Monequin (recorded as Monnekin in a 14c. version from Hainault), which could be a diminutive of some personal name, or it could be from the general Romanic word, which may be ultimately from Arabic maimun "monkey," literally "auspicious," a euphemistic usage because the sight of apes was held by the Arabs to be unlucky [Klein]. The word would have been influenced in Italian by folk etymology from monna "woman," a contraction of ma donna "my lady."
  • Monkey has been used affectionately for "child" since c.1600. As a type of modern popular dance, it is attested from 1964. Monkey business attested from 1883. Monkey suit "fancy uniform" is from 1886. Monkey wrench is attested from 1858; its figurative sense of "something that obstructs operations" is from the notion of one getting jammed in the gears of machinery (cf. spanner in the works). To make a monkey of someone is attested from 1900. To have a monkey on one's back "be addicted" is 1930s narcotics slang, though the same phrase in the 1860s meant "to be angry." There is a story in the Sinbad cycle about a tormenting ape-like creature that mounts a man's shoulders and won't get off, which may be the root of the term. In 1890s British slang, to have a monkey up the chimney meant "to have a mortgage on one's house." The three wise monkeys ("see no evil," etc.) are attested from 1926.
  • noun primate
  • verb fiddle, tamper with
Example sentences :
  • One day she hit the shell in the wrong place--and they're still looking for the monkey.
  • Extract from : « Viviette » by William J. Locke
  • I'm forty-four, independent, free, a slave to no man nor monkey.
  • Extract from : « Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 7, May 14, 1870 » by Various
  • For why should the loss of his tail have resulted in the changed chemistry of the monkey's brain?
  • Extract from : « Life: Its True Genesis » by R. W. Wright
  • And where is his monkey that first lost the prehensile power to climb trees?
  • Extract from : « Life: Its True Genesis » by R. W. Wright
  • We can only say that what is fittest for the monkey is ill-fitted for man, and the reverse.
  • Extract from : « Life: Its True Genesis » by R. W. Wright
  • Like a monkey he climbed up to its very top, and then, with all his might, he shot into the waves.
  • Extract from : « The Chinese Fairy Book » by Various
  • "And a brass, a silver, and a gold penny every week," said the monkey.
  • Extract from : « Harper's Young People, October 26, 1880 » by Various
  • The monkey looked, and saw that the fox seemed to be speaking the truth.
  • Extract from : « Aino Folk-Tales » by Basil Hall Chamberlain
  • If Tricky had lost such a chance he would not have been a monkey at all.
  • Extract from : « The Monkey That Would Not Kill » by Henry Drummond
  • He remembered that when he suddenly spoke to the monkey he had called to it in Gaelic.
  • Extract from : « The Monkey That Would Not Kill » by Henry Drummond

Antonyms for monkey

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019