ape
/eɪp/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.48 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An anthropoid of the superfamily Hominoidea, generally larger than monkeys and distinguished from them by having no tail.
noun
A Hominoidea primate other than a human.
noun
An unintelligent or unsophisticated person, especially one who behaves irrationally or in an uncivilised manner.
Derogatory
noun
An unintelligent or unsophisticated person, especially one who behaves irrationally or in an uncivilised manner.
Derogatory
noun
A person who invests in meme stock, especially one who uses subreddits such as /r/wallstreetbets.
Example Sentences
- "Of vvhat texte thou proveſt hell / vvill a nother prove purgatory / a nother lymbo patrum / and a nother the aſſumpcion of oure ladi: And a nother ſhall prove of the ſame texte that an Ape hath a tayle."
- "Animalistic dehumanisation, 'simianisation' and the animalising of black bodies through metaphorically likening these individuals to 'baboons,' 'monkeys' or 'apes' reveals racialised animality discourse in South Africa."
- "But he was worried about Leiter in the hands of those clumsy black apes."
- "I could not think of a better representation of the good in this world, let alone this r***^([sic]) band of apes on Reddit."
- "The tragic consequences of Bed Bath & Beyond's whiplashing fortunes have cast an even darker cloud over Cohen's reputation. But in all likelihood the meme-stock phenomenon is here to stay--even if Cohen and his ilk are profiting off the backs of the "apes" who support them."
- "In their self-professed and commonly invoked role of “degenerates” and “apes,” r/wallstreetbets commenters regularly adopt language of worship for those they admire, and in the case of GameStop, DeepFuckingValue, aka Roaring Kitty, aka Keith Gill was deemed worthy."
Etymology
From Middle English ape, from Old English apa (“ape, monkey”), from Proto-West Germanic *apō, from Proto-Germanic *apô (“monkey, ape”), possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep- (“water”), compare Proto-Celtic *abū (“river”) (hence English place name Avon, Irish abha, Welsh afon), if the word originally referred to a "water sprite". Traditionally assumed to be an ancient loanword instead, ultimately probably from an unidentified non-Indo-European language of regions in Africa or Asia where monkeys are native. Cognate with Scots aip (“ape”), West Frisian aap (“ape”), Dutch aap (“monkey, ape”), Low German Ape (“ape”), German Affe (“monkey, ape”), Swedish apa (“monkey, ape”), Icelandic api (“ape”).