# monkey
## English
### Etymology

Uncertain. May be derived from monk +‎ -ey (diminutive suffix), or borrowed from Middle Low German Moneke, the name of the son of Martin the Ape in Reynard the Fox (which may represent an unattested colloquial Middle Low German *moneke, *moneken), itself of uncertain origin. Possibly derived from a Romance term represented by Late Middle French monne (whence Modern French mone (“monkey”)) or earlier Old French monnekin (“monkey”), originally Monnekin, the name of a monkey in Li Dis d'Entendement. Compare also Old French and Middle French monin (“monkey”). The French terms may have been borrowed from Italian monna (“monkey”), from Old Spanish mona (“female monkey”), itself a shortening of mamona, variant of maimón, from Arabic مَيْمُون (maymūn, “baboon”)). However, Old French monnekin may alternatively be unrelated to the other terms, instead being a borrowing of Early Middle Dutch mannekin (a diminutive of a personal name or surname; hence, nickname, literally “miniature man”).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA: /ˈmʌŋki/
* Audio (General American):(file)
* (Northern England) IPA: /ˈmʊŋki/
* Rhymes: -ʌŋki
* Hyphenation: monk‧ey

### Noun

monkey (plural monkeys or (obsolete) monkies)
* (strictly) A member of the clade Simiiformes other than those in the clade Hominoidea containing apes, generally (but not universally) distinguished by small size, tails, and cheek pouches.
    He had been visiting an area zoo when a monkey swung from its tree perch, swiped his glasses and hurled them into a hippo hole.
* (loosely, sometimes proscribed) Any simian primate other than hominids, any monkey or ape.
    Chimpanzees are known to form bands to hunt and kill other monkeys.
* (figurative, generally derogatory) A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including:
** (informal, sometimes offensive) A naughty or mischievous person, especially a child.
    Stop misbehaving, you cheeky little monkey!
*** 1909, Algernon Blackwood, You May Telephone From Here:"Yes. He gets to Paris at seven in the morning. He promised to telephone the first thing." "You expensive little monkey!" "Why?" "It's ten shillings for three minutes, or something like that, and you have to go to the G.P.O. or the Mansion House or some such place, I believe."
** (slang) The person in the motorcycle sidecar in sidecar racing.
** (derogatory) Synonym of idiot: a person of minimal intelligence.
** (derogatory) Synonym of uggo: an unattractive person, especially one whose face supposedly resembles a monkey's.
** (slang, derogatory) Synonym of puppet: a person dancing to another's tune, a person controlled or directed by another.
    No, no, no, not you. I want to talk to the organ grinder, not the monkey.
** (slang, usually derogatory) A menial employee who does a repetitive job supposedly requiring minimal intelligence.
    code monkey... grease monkey... phone monkey... powder monkey...
** (slang, highly derogatory, ethnic slur, offensive) A black person.
* (slang, vulgar, uncommon) A penis.
* (historical) A small trading vessel of the sixteenth century.
* (slang, nautical) The vessel in which a mess receives its full allowance of grog.
* The weight of a pile driver or drop hammer.
** 2007, Broos Campbell, No Quarter, page 111:Someone handed me a monkey of grog. I forced myself to sip it, not down it.
* A fluid consisting of hydrochloric acid and zinc, used in the process of soldering.
* (slang) Synonym of five hundred, especially (British) 500 pounds sterling or (US, dated) 500 dollars.
** 2004, The Streets (lyrics and music), “It Was Supposed to Be So Easy”, in A Grand Don’t Come for Free:A thousandth of a million squid or two monkeys Or a whole fifty scores
* (blackjack) Synonym of face card.
* (slang) A person's temper, said to be "up" when they are angry.
** 1864, Eneas Sweetland Dallas, Once a Week, volume 11, page 267:I was out rather late one night, when the foreman of my department, who owed me a grudge, abused me like a dog, and told me I might consider myself dismissed, and that I should be paid my wages in the morning. I don't know how I kept my hands off him, for my monkey was up; […]
** 2019, John Hughes-Wilson, 1918 - Defeat into Victory: A Tommy Gunn Adventure, page 98:Reminded me of running up that hill by the Marne – or was it the Morin? – in 1914 when Kearey had got his face ripped open by a bullet and Hedley had got his monkey up [Lost his temper, Ed.] over the Huns killing 8 of my platoon.
* (slang) A drug habit; an addiction; a compulsion.
** 1938, Alfred R. Lindesmith, "Argot of the Underworld Drug Addict", Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Vol. 29, Issue 2 (July-August):
    Monkey: a habit, as in "I have a monkey on my back." Usually used when one is sick from lack of drugs.
** 1949, Nelson Algren, The Man with The Golden Arm:"Man, I wasn't hooked, I was crucified. The monkey got so big he was carryin' me. […] When I hear a junkie tell me he wants to kick the habit but he just can't I know he lies even if he don't know he does. He wants to carry the monkey, he's punishin' hisself for somethin' 'n don't even know it. […] Then I got forty grains 'n went up to the room 'n went from monkey to nothin' in twenny-eight days 'n that's nine-ten years ago 'n the monkey's dead." "The monkey's never dead, Fixer," Frankie told him knowingly.
** 1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 431:I thought I would like to learn about the dope scene anyway, and the boy must have some character, you know, if he got the monkey off his back (as they used to say in our time) without outside help.
    Everybody's got something to hide except for me and my monkey.
* (dance) A dance popularized by Major Lance in 1963, now usually only its upper-body dance move involving exaggerated drumming motions.
** 1963, Curtis Mayfield, "The Monkey Time" (video):
    Do the Monkey, yeah, Do the Monkey, yeah, Ah, twist them hips, Let your backbone slip, Now move your feet, Get on the beat...
** 1964, “C'mon and Swim”, Thomas Coman and Sylvester Stewart (Sly Stone) (lyrics), performed by Bobby Freeman:C'mon everybody! C'mon in! Bobby's goin' to show you how to do the swim. Kinda like the monkey, kinda like the twist Pretend you're in the water and you go like this.
** 1971, “Suicide Song”, in Loudon Wainwright III (lyrics), Album II, performed by Loudon Wainwright III:Do the monkey, do the pony / Do the slop, do the boogaloo twist.
** 1989, Gary Holt, The Toxic Waltz:...Used to the do the monkey But now it's not cool...

#### Derived terms

* antimonkey
* Azara's night monkey
* bare-eared squirrel monkey
* barrel of monkeys
* bleeding-heart monkey
* bleed the monkey
* blue monkey
* bonnet monkey
* brass monkey
* brown woolly monkey
* Burmese snub-nosed monkey
* butt monkey
* capuchin monkey
* cheeky monkey
* cheese-eating surrender monkey
* cheese monkey
* chunky monkey
* code monkey
* cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey
* common squirrel monkey
* de Brazza's monkey
* diademed monkey
* diadem monkey
* Diana monkey
* dusky leaf monkey
* get one's monkey up
* give a monkey's
* Goeldi's monkey
* golden monkey
* golden palace monkey
* grease monkey
* grease-monkey
* green monkey
* green monkey disease
* Hamlyn's monkey
* Hartlepool monkey
* hog-monkey
* hosemonkey
* howler monkey
* hundredth monkey
* hybrid monkey
* ice monkey
* if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys
* I'll be a monkey's uncle
* infinite monkey theorem
* inquisitive monkey
* Japanese monkey
* juice monkey
* leaf monkey
* left-handed monkey wrench
* lesser spot-nosed monkey
* like a monkey on a stick
* like butter on a bald monkey
* Madidi titi monkey
* make a monkey of
* make a monkey out of
* monke
* monkey about
* monkey apple
* monkey around
* monkey-ass
* monkey bag
* monkey ball
* monkey barge
* monkey bars
* monkey bike
* monkey bite
* monkey block
* monkeyboard
* monkey boat
* monkey boot
* monkey boy
* monkey-branch
* monkey bread
* monkey-bread
* monkey bridge
* monkey business
* monkey butt
* monkey cap
* monkeycide
* monkey cup, monkey-cup
* monkey dance
* monkey dish
* monkeydom
* Monkeydonia
* monkey drill
* monkey dust
* monkey-ear tree
* monkey-eating eagle
* monkey engine
* monkeyess
* monkeyface
* monkey-faced owl
* monkey-face tree
* monkey fever
* monkey flip
* monkeyflower
* monkey forecastle
* monkey fruit
* monkeyfy
* monkey gaff
* monkeygland
* monkey glove
* monkey grass
* monkey guarding
* monkey hammer
* monkey hanger
* monkeyhood
* monkey hour
* monkey house, monkey-house
* monkey humping a football
* monkey in the middle
* monkey in the woodpile
* monkeyish
* monkey island
* monkeyism
* monkey jack
* monkey jacket
* monkey jar
* monkeykind
* monkey ladder
* monkeyless
* monkeylike, monkey-like
* monkey lip
* monkey lips
* monkey man
* monkey meat
* monkey metal
* monkey model
* monkey motion
* monkey-no-climb
* monkey nut
* monkey on a stick
* monkey orange
* monkey orchestra
* monkey orchid
* monkey parade
* monkey-patch, monkey patch
* monkey pod, monkeypod
* monkey points
* monkey pole
* monkey pot
* monkey pox, monkey-pox, monkeypox
* monkey press
* monkey pump
* monkey puzzle, monkey-puzzle
* monkey puzzle tree
* monkey rail
* monkeyrony
* monkey rum
* monkey run
* monkey's allowance
* monkey's dinner bell
* monkey see, monkey do
* monkey's fist
* monkeyshine, monkey-shine
* monkey show
* monkey slug
* monkey spar
* monkey's paw
* monkey's pistol
* monkey spoon
* monkey squirrel
* monkey stove
* monkey strap, monkey-strap
* monkey suit
* monkey swill
* monkey tail
* monkey tail tree
* monkey talk
* monkey tamarind
* monkey thorn
* monkey trail
* monkey trap
* monkey trial
* monkey up
* monkey walk
* Monkey Ward's
* monkey wheel
* monkey-wrencher, monkey wrencher
* monkey wrenching, monkey-wrenching
* monkey wrench, monkey-wrench
* mud monkey
* Myanmar snub-nosed monkey
* native monkey
* Negro monkey
* New World monkey
* night monkey
* northern monkey
* nose monkey
* not give a monkey's
* not my circus, not my monkeys
* not your circus, not your monkeys
* Old World monkey
* owl-faced monkey
* owl monkey
* parrot and monkey time
* patas monkey
* phone monkey
* Pluto monkey
* porch monkey
* powder monkey
* proboscis monkey
* purple monkey dishwasher
* puzzle-monkey
* Ramayana monkey chant
* red monkey
* rhesus monkey
* rigging monkey
* rug monkey
* sand monkey
* Satan monkey
* script monkey
* scut monkey
* sea monkey
* signifying monkey
* skill monkey
* snow monkey
* snub-nosed monkey
* sock monkey
* South American squirrel monkey
* spank the monkey
* spider monkey
* squirrel monkey
* suck the monkey
* supermonkey
* surrender monkey
* swamp monkey
* the organ grinder, not the monkey
* trouser monkey
* vervet monkey
* water monkey
* weremonkey
* white-faced capuchin monkey
* white monkey
* widow monkey
* winking monkey
* woolly monkey
* you can take the monkey out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of the monkey

#### Descendants

* → Chukchi: маӈкы (maṇky)
* → Coeur d'Alene: moonki
* → Irish: moncaí
* → Navajo: mágí
* → Scottish Gaelic: muncaidh
* → Tumbuka: munkhwele
* → Welsh: mwnci

#### Translations
### Verb

monkey (third-person singular simple present monkeys, present participle monkeying, simple past and past participle monkeyed or monkied)
* (intransitive, informal) To meddle; to mess (with).
    Synonyms: interfere, fiddle
    Please don't monkey with the controls if you don't know what you're doing.
** 1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter XII, in The Understanding Heart:“As an inventor,” Bob Mason suggested, “you're a howling success at shooting craps! […] Why monkey with weak imitations when you can come close to the original?”
* (transitive) To mimic; to ape.
** 2011, Elizabeth Mosier, The Playgroup, page 83:He winked at Liza, who monkeyed him, holding her own eye shut.

#### Derived terms

* monkey around
* monkey up
* spank the monkey

#### Translations
### See also

* ape
* primate

### Anagrams

* Myōken