orangutan

[ aw-rang-oo-tan, oh-rang-, uh-rang- ]

/ ɔˈræŋ ʊˌtæn, oʊˈræŋ-, əˈræŋ- /

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noun

either of two species of long-armed, arboreal great ape, the only extant members of the subfamily Ponginae, inhabiting Borneo (Pongo pygmaeus) and Sumatra (P. abelii): both species, including all three of the Bornean subspecies, are endangered.

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Also o·rang-u·tan; o·rang·u·tang or o·rang-ou·tang

[aw-rang-oo-tang, oh-rang-, uh-rang-] /ɔˈræŋ ʊˌtæŋ, oʊˈræŋ-, əˈræŋ-/ .

Also called o·rang

[aw-rang, oh-rang] /ɔˈræŋ, oʊˈræŋ/ .

Origin of orangutan

First recorded in 1690–1700; from Dutch orang outang, apparently from Malay: literally, “forest man” (Malay orang “man, person” + (h)utan “forest”

Words nearby orangutan

orange stick, orange-tip, Orangevale, Orangeville, orangewood, orangutan, orangy, Oranian, orans, orant, ora pro nobis

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use orangutan in a sentence

Someone had planted a modern human skull alongside an orangutan jaw with its teeth filed down.
The ultimate genealogical search hunts for our earliest ancestors|Erin Wayman|December 2, 2021|Science News For Students
Today, orangutans are found only on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.
Ancient giant orangutans evolved smaller bodies surprisingly slowly|Bruce Bower|December 1, 2021|Science News
That same year, a court in Argentina reportedly ruled in a habeas corpus case that an orangutan named Sandra could be freed from a Buenos Aires zoo and moved to a sanctuary.
In a Legal First, a Court Will Decide if an Elephant Deserves the Same Rights as a Person|Melissa Chan|October 21, 2021|Time
Last week, all seven of the orangutans at the National Zoo got their coronavirus shots, the zoo said.
Our animal kin get the Covid jab at the National Zoo, zoo says|Martin Weil|October 17, 2021|Washington Post

In the early 1990s, Kinari Webb took a year off college to join a Harvard researcher studying orangutans in Indonesia’s rainforested Gunung Palung National Park.
The fight to stop the next pandemic starts in the jungles of Borneo|Brian Barth|December 2, 2020|Popular-Science
Some dude slaps an orangutan around a little,” says Rick, “and they ask for $800,000,000.
The Stacks: The Judas Priest Teen Suicide Trial|Ivan Solotaroff|June 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But it is unlikely to make that transition itself, anymore than you could turn yourself into your neighbor, or an orangutan.
Can Walmart Change?|Megan McArdle|November 29, 2012|DAILY BEAST
There was an orangutan sanctuary there, and I heard that they were taking volunteers.
Audrey Tautou on ‘Amélie,’ Her New Film ‘Delicacy,’ & More|Marlow Stern|March 18, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The exhibit was intended as an example of the "missing link" between the orangutan and white man.
Of Course Killer Whales Kill|Mansfield Frazier|February 25, 2010|DAILY BEAST
Sammy the orangutan has watched himself in Dunston Checks In, and he seemed to be interested.
Bubbles Speaks|Ben Montgomery|July 5, 2009|DAILY BEAST
Of the great man-like apes (gorilla, orangutan, and chimpanzee).
Dactylography|Henry Faulds
He leaped from left to right, and back again, like an orangutan stirred to frenzied anger.
Captain Pott's Minister|Francis L. Cooper
Exactly a week after I had caught this interesting little animal, I succeeded in shooting a full-grown male Orangutan.
The Malay Archipelago|Alfred Russell Wallace
He looks as much like a Borneo Orangutan as any human being I ever saw.
Flash-lights from the Seven Seas|William L. Stidger

British Dictionary definitions for orangutan

orang-utan

orang-utang (ɔːˌræŋuːˈtæŋ, ˌɔːræŋˈuːtæŋ)

/ (ɔːˌræŋuːˈtæn, ˌɔːræŋˈuːtæn) /

noun

a large anthropoid ape, Pongo pygmaeus, of the forests of Sumatra and Borneo, with shaggy reddish-brown hair and strong armsSometimes shortened to: orang

Word Origin for orang-utan

C17: from Malay orang hutan, from ōrang man + hūtan forest

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