chimpanzee

American  

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

noun

• chimpanzees
  plural

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.

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chimpanzee British  

/ ˌtʃɪmpænˈziː /

noun

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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• chimpanzees
  plural

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

Compare meaning

How does chimpanzee compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• orangutan vs. chimpanzee

Explanation

Chimpanzees are one of our closest ape relatives, along with bonobos. In the wild, chimpanzees live in social family groups and swing from tree to tree using their long arms. As a human, you share 98.7 percent of your genes with chimpanzees, as well as a common ancestor. Known as chimps for short, these endangered primates have furry bodies and smooth, expressive faces. They're one of the few non-human animals that use tools, and in captivity have been taught basic sign language. Chimpanzee is from the Bantu word chimpenze, "ape."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

chimpanzee chimpanzees

The chimpanzees may have left the area, but you are lucky nonetheless, because you have stumbled upon evidence of a rare — and potentially cultural — chimpanzee behavior: accumulative stone throwing.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 28, 2026

The vision was conceived by Jane Goodall, the late, famed chimpanzee expert, and Margarita Pagliai, who founded Seven Arrows and Little Dolphins Preschool in the Palisades.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2026

If you compare the smartest nonhuman animal, the chimpanzee, to what Mr. Lefebvre regards as the smartest bird, the New Caledonian crow, chimps emerge on top.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

Ai, a female chimpanzee famous for her cognitive skills has died at 49, according to the Japanese institute where she lived.

From BBC ● Jan. 12, 2026

If a chimpanzee can reach out to help a human, then surely we humans can reach out and try to help the chimpanzees and all the other creatures we live with in the world today.

From "My Life with the Chimpanzees" by Jane Goodall

"We are less intelligent than superintelligent AI. If you ask chimpanzees how humans could wipe them out, they probably wouldn't be able to give you all the right answers."

From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026

It can also cause habitat destruction and pollution with severe detrimental effects for chimpanzees, other wildlife and the local people — as it already has in neighboring Guinea.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 28, 2026

The amount detected in Neanderthal samples was similar to levels found in western chimpanzees, which use insects to supplement their diets on the savanna, particularly during droughts.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026

Human beings are chimpanzees, and are therefore pack animals, and the average IQ is 100, meaning half of all people have an IQ lower than 100.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026

It is not legal to hunt chimpanzees; they are endangered.

From "My Life with the Chimpanzees" by Jane Goodall

Related Words

• ape
• baboon
• gorilla
• lemur
• orangutan