Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

monkey patch

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.83 in modern English

Syllables: mon-key -patch
IPA

27

Scrabble Score

11

Letters

3

Syllables

11

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A patch which alters the behaviour of a program by forcibly overriding aspects of the original code at runtime.

Slang

verb

To alter the behaviour of a program by forcibly overriding aspects of the original code at runtime.

Slang; Transitive verb

Example Sentences

"Even though that works with some browsers, others provide Anchor objects without click() methods. Add this magic code to your application.js, to Monkey Patch a JavaScript click() event:"

Etymology

Apparently from earlier guerrilla patch (“code that sneakily changes other code”), understood as gorilla patch. A monkey patch was then a more carefully written instance of such a patch. Or simply derived from monkey (“to mess with”, verb).

Usage

Inflected Forms

monkey patches (plural) monkeypatch (alternative) monkey-patch (alternative) monkey patches (present, singular) monkey patching (participle, present) monkey patched (participle, past) monkey patched (past)

Questions

What does monkey patch mean?: A patch which alters the behaviour of a program by forcibly overriding aspects of the original code at runtime.
Where does monkey patch come from?: Apparently from earlier guerrilla patch (“code that sneakily changes other code”), understood as gorilla patch. A monkey patch was then a more carefully written instance of such a patch. Or simply derived from monkey (“to mess with”, verb).

How to pronounce monkey patch

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