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chimpanzee

American  
[chim-pan-zee, chim-pan-zee] / ˌtʃɪm pænˈzi, tʃɪmˈpæn zi /

noun

  1. a very social great ape of sub-Saharan Africa, belonging to the genus Pan and having a brown-to-black coat, a relatively hairless face with a rounded muzzle, prominent ears, and hands adapted for knuckle-walking, and noted for its intelligence and humanlike behavior: both species, the common chimpanzee (P. troglodytes ) and the bonobo (P. paniscus ), are greatly reduced in number and considered endangered.

chimpanzee British  
/ ˌtʃɪmpænˈziː /

noun

  1. a gregarious and intelligent anthropoid ape, Pan troglodytes, inhabiting forests in central W Africa

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of chimpanzee

First recorded in 1730–40; origin uncertain; possibly from Vili , a Bantu language spoken on the Atlantic coast between southern Gabon and northern Angola

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

After the split between human and chimpanzee lineages around 7 million years ago, early human ancestors followed a complex evolutionary path that eventually led to the emergence of Homo sapiens roughly 300,000 years ago.

From Science Daily • Jan. 23, 2026

One chimpanzee with a typewriter could pound out the script for “Primate” in an hour.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 9, 2026

There again, maybe the laugh is on the rest of us, because these folks are still pulling down the big bucks, even after their predictions worked out worse than the proverbial blindfolded chimpanzee throwing darts.

From MarketWatch • Dec. 26, 2025

These early humans are thought to have lived alongside their evolutionary ancestors: a pre-human group, called australopithecines, who had larger teeth and a mix of chimpanzee and human traits.

From BBC • Nov. 4, 2025

Just as human politicians on election campaigns go around shaking hands and kissing babies, so aspirants to the top position in a chimpanzee group spend much time hugging, back-slapping and kissing baby chimps.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.