Etymology

ape

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Today it means: An anthropoid of the superfamily Hominoidea, generally larger than monkeys and distinguished from them by having no tail. Full definition →

Middle English ape ← Old English apa ← Proto-West Germanic *apō
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ape · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*h₂ep-“water”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*apô“monkey, ape”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*apō
  4. Old English · inherited fromapa“ape, monkey”
  5. Middle English · inherited fromape
  6. English todayape

From Middle English ape, from Old English apa (“ape, monkey”), from Proto-West Germanic *apō, from Proto-Germanic *apô (“monkey, ape”), possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep- (“water”), compare Proto-Celtic *abū (“river”) (hence English place name Avon, Irish abha, Welsh afon), if the word originally referred to a "water sprite". Traditionally assumed to be an ancient loanword instead, ultimately probably from an unidentified non-Indo-European language of regions in Africa or Asia where monkeys are native. Cognate with Scots aip (“ape”), West Frisian aap (“ape”), Dutch aap (“monkey, ape”), Low German Ape (“ape”), German Affe (“monkey, ape”), Swedish apa (“monkey, ape”), Icelandic api (“ape”).

ape · adjective2

Clipping of apeshit (“ape-shit (crazy)”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.