Pongidae

American

[pon-ji-dee] / ˈpɒn dʒɪ di /

noun

(used with a singular or plural verb)

the primate family comprising gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans: no longer used in taxonomy, it is subsumed by the family Hominidae, which includes humans.

Etymology

Origin of Pongidae

First recorded in 1910–15; from New Latin Pongidae, equivalent to Pong(o), type genus (said to be from Kongo mpongi, mpungu “ape”) + -idae see origin at -idae

Example Sentences

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Only about 240 survivors of this subspecies of the Pongidae family remain.

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023