Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Either of two African apes of the genus Pan, having black hair, a bare face, somewhat arboreal habits, and a high degree of intelligence.
  • noun The common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), of equatorial central and western Africa, having a stockier build than the bonobo (P. paniscus).

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A large West African ape, Troglodytes (or Anthropopithecus or Mimetes) niger, belonging to the anthropoid or man-like monkeys, of the family Simiidæ and suborder Anthropoidea, with dark blackish-brown hair, flesh-colored hands and feet, arms reaching to the knee, and very large ears, and like the orang in having the hair on its forearm turned backward, but differing from it in having an additional dorsal vertebra and a thirteenth pair of ribs.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) An african ape (Pan troglodytes, formerly Anthropithecus troglodytes, or Troglodytes niger) which approaches more nearly to man, in most respects, than any other ape. It is the most intelligent of non-human animals, and when full grown, it is from three to four feet high. A variant called the pygmy chimpanzee, or bonobo, has been recently recognized as a separate species.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A great ape of the genus Pan, native to Africa, and believed by biologists to be the closest extant relative to humans.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun intelligent somewhat arboreal ape of equatorial African forests

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Portuguese, from Vili (Bantu language of Congo) ci-mpenzi.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

The first use of the name chimpanzee did not occur until 1738. The name is derived from a Tshiluba language term kivili-chimpenze, which is the local name for the animal and translates loosely as mockman or possibly just ape.

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Examples

Comments

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  • an interesting post-battle ritual for the victors: tearing apart an enemy baby and passing delicious chunks around.

    July 3, 2009

  • I liked the commentary I heard form the head of the ASPCA following the defacing and ripping off of the hands of the friend of the owner of the chimp from the Old Navy commercials. He said that "The owning of chimpanzees as pets is an example of colossal human stupidity".

    July 3, 2009

  • PR makes a tremendous amount of difference in both directions. them durn bonnet-wearing banana-chompers on TV inspired loads of loaded dimbulbs to get themselves a chimp, I bet, while leagues of parents would not under any circumstances allow for a pet rat in the house.

    July 3, 2009

  • spearin' bushbabies

    July 3, 2009

  • Oooh! Has anyone else noticed that "chimpanzee" is a three-syllable schwa-free word?

    *happy grin*

    July 3, 2009

  • Good one babycakes!

    July 3, 2009

  • The word chimpanzee contains the words impeach + zen. Just sayin'.

    February 17, 2011