Meanings
plural colobuses · plural colobi
- biologyAny of several African monkeys of the genera Colobus, Piliocolobus, and Procolobus.
Other examples of nonhuman self-domestication in the wild exist—for instance, the Zanzibar red colobus monkey diverged from the mainland African red colobus in similar ways during its island isolation—but bonobos are the closest and most relevant to us.
2019 January 29, Melvin Konner, “A Bold New Theory Proposes That Humans Tamed Themselves”, in The Atlantic, →ISSN, archived from the original on 09 Jul 2019Synonyms: colobus monkey
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAny of several African monkeys of the genera Colobus, Piliocolobus, and Procolobus.
More synonyms by meaning
nounarboreal monkey of western and central Africa with long silky fur and reduced thumbs
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- translingualColobus
- Englishcolobus
Borrowed from translingual Colobus, from the genus name.
More words from translingual
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan còlob
- còlobAfrican monkeys
Chinese Mandarin 疣猴
- 疣猴 (yóuhóu)African monkeys
Finnish gueretsa
- gueretsaAfrican monkeys
Irish moncaí colabach
- moncaí colabachAfrican monkeys
Italian colobo
- coloboAfrican monkeys
Russian коло́бус, гвере́ца
- коло́бус (kolóbus)African monkeys
- гвере́ца (gveréca)African monkeys
- толстоте́лая обезья́на (tolstotélaja obezʹjána)African monkeys
Swahili mbega
- mbegaAfrican monkeys
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
colobus. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/colobus
“colobus.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/colobus. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “colobus,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/colobus.
Source: colobus on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.