orangutan
[aw-rang-oo-tan, oh-rang-, uh-rang-]
- a large, long-armed anthropoid ape, Pongo pygmaeus, of arboreal habits, inhabiting Borneo and Sumatra: an endangered species.
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Also o·rang-u·tan, o·rang·u·tang, o·rang-ou·tang [aw-rang-oo-tang, oh-rang-, uh-rang-] /ɔˈræŋ ʊˌtæŋ, oʊˈræŋ-, əˈræŋ-/.
Origin of orangutan
1690–1700; < New Latin, Dutch orang outang, apparently < pidgin or bazaar Malay: literally, forest man (Malay orang man, person + (h)utan forest
Also called orang.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
baboonapelemurchimpanzeegorillaorangutanrascalmonkimpscampsimiananthropoidhominoidmonkeyhumanmangibbonprimatehumanoidorangExamples from the Web for orangutan
Contemporary Examples
Some dude slaps an orangutan around a little,” says Rick, “and they ask for $800,000,000.
But it is unlikely to make that transition itself, anymore than you could turn yourself into your neighbor, or an orangutan.
There was an orangutan sanctuary there, and I heard that they were taking volunteers.
The exhibit was intended as an example of the "missing link" between the orangutan and white man.
Sammy the orangutan has watched himself in Dunston Checks In, and he seemed to be interested.
Historical Examples
Of the great man-like apes (gorilla, orangutan, and chimpanzee).
DactylographyHenry Faulds
He leaped from left to right, and back again, like an orangutan stirred to frenzied anger.
Captain Pott's MinisterFrancis L. Cooper
Word Origin and History for orangutan
n.
1690s, from Dutch orang-outang (1631), from Malay orang utan, literally "man of the woods," from orang "man" + utan, hutan "forest, wild." It is possible that the word originally was used by town-dwellers on Java to describe savage forest tribes of the Sunda Islands and that Europeans misunderstood it to mean the ape. The name is not now applied in Malay to the animal, but there is evidence that it was used so in 17c. [OED]
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper