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barbary ape

Bar·ba·ry ape
B b

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [bahr-buh-ree eyp]
    • /ˈbɑr bə ri eɪp/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [bahr-buh-ree eyp]
    • /ˈbɑr bə ri eɪp/

Definitions of barbary ape words

  • noun barbary ape a tailless macaque, Macaca sylvana, that inhabits rocky cliffs and forests in NW Africa and Gibraltar: family Cercopithecidae, order Primates 3
  • noun barbary ape a tailless, apelike macaque monkey (Macaca sylvana) of N Africa and Gibraltar: the only surviving wild monkey in Europe 3
  • noun barbary ape a tailless macaque, Macaca sylvanus, of mountain ranges in northwestern Africa, now greatly reduced in number: a small, managed colony of unknown origin is maintained on the Rock of Gibraltar. 1
  • noun barbary ape A tailless monkey, Macaca sylvanus, found on Gibraltar and in parts of north Africa. 0

Information block about the term

Origin of barbary ape

First appearance:

before 1870
One of the 26% newest English words
First recorded in 1870-75

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Barbary ape

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

barbary ape popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 37% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.
According to our data about 64% of words is more used. This is a rare but used term. It occurs in the pages of specialized literature and in the speech of educated people.

barbary ape usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

See also

Matching words

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