macaque

[muh-kak, -kahk]

noun

any monkey of the genus Macaca, chiefly of Asia, characterized by cheek pouches and, usually, a short tail: several species are threatened or endangered.

Origin of macaque

1690–1700; < French < Portuguese macaco monkey. See macaco

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for macaque

Historical Examples of macaque

Among the primates beside Pithecanthropus there is a macaque.
Men of the Old Stone Age
Henry Fairfield Osborn
Fig. 236 shows this continuity of the descending and transverse mesocolon as a permanent adult condition in the macaque.
The Anatomy of the Human Peritoneum and Abdominal Cavity
George. S. Huntington
The Japanese Macaque (M. speciosus) is well known from the work of Japanese artists.
The Cambridge Natural History, Vol X., Mammalia
Frank Evers Beddard
Macaque, ma-kak′, n. a monkey of genus Macacus, between baboons and the African mangabeys.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M)
Various
The hair on the forehead of this is black, whereas that of the macaque is greenish.
Buffon's Natural History. Volume IX (of 10)
Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon

British Dictionary definitions for macaque

macaque

noun

any of various Old World monkeys of the genus Macaca, inhabiting wooded or rocky regions of Asia and Africa. Typically the tail is short or absent and cheek pouches are present

Word Origin for macaque

C17: from French, from Portuguese macaco, from Fiot (a W African language) makaku, from kaku monkey

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

Word Origin and History for macaque

East Indian monkey, 1757, from French macaque, from Portuguese macaco "monkey," a Bantu word brought from Africa to Brazil (where it was applied 17c. to a type of monkey there). Introduced as a genus name 1840.