macaque

[ muh-kak, -kahk ]

noun

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

macaque

/ məˈkɑːk /

noun

1. 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 History and Origins

Origin of macaque¹

First recorded in 1690–1700; from French, from Portuguese macaco “monkey,” presumably from a Bantu language of the Atlantic coast; compare Lingala makako “ape”

Word History and Origins

Origin of macaque¹

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

Example Sentences

Yet because the virus’s rhesus macaque hosts seldom, if ever, get tumors from it, little is known about how and why polyomavirus persists in an animal population.

From Science News

In 2009, Boyden and colleagues described optogenetics in a macaque.

From Science News

Because their brains are the most similar to ours, rhesus macaque monkeys are often the critical step before a brain-machine interface technology is adapted for humans.

From Singularity Hub 

The researchers used a version of AlexNet to model the ventral visual stream of macaques and figured out the correspondences between the artificial neuron units and neural sites in the monkeys’ V4 area.

From Quanta Magazine

They presented macaques with 175 images, showing 25 individuals in seven poses, and recorded the neural signatures from “face patches,” visual processing areas that specialize in face recognition.

From Quanta Magazine

An odd new study involving rhesus macaque monkeys, ethanol, and vaccines has found some benefit to moderate drinking.

From The Daily Beast

Instead of a small crest of hair, which is found on the top of the head of the macaque, this animal has it sharp and pointed.

From Project Gutenberg

The egret also has a longer tail than the macaque, in proportion to the length of its body.

From Project Gutenberg

The macaque has pouches on each side of his cheeks, and callosities on his posteriors.

From Project Gutenberg

The macaque and the egret, appeared to us so similar, that we presumed them to be of one and the same species.

From Project Gutenberg

The only other member of this family that we can mention is the crab-eating macaque, which is found in Siam and Burma.

From Project Gutenberg