Meanings
plural lemurs
- Any strepsirrhine primate of the superfamily Lemuroidea, native only to Madagascar and some surrounding islands.
"Lemurs are naturally very social," said Mukobi. "Wild lemurs live in big family groups, and different species do really well together. Plus, the new lemur habitat is quite large, so each family group can have their own space when they choose to."
2018 November 9, “Red alert: New lemurs join zoo conspiracy”, in Oregon Zoo, retrieved 05 Nov 20191 more example
Tucker-Brown explained how lemurs—like much of the “stranded” flora and fauna of Madagascar—are effectively living fossils. Belonging to a primate group called prosimians, lemurs were evolutionarily superseded by monkeys on mainland Africa 35mn years ago and driven to near-extinction.
2025 July 5, Mike Carter, “Deep in the island ark”, in FT Weekend (Travel section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 6 - datedAny of the genus Lemur, represented by the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta).
- obsoleteA loris (Lemur tardigradus, now Loris tardigradus), predating the 10th edition of Systema Naturæ.
Origin
- Latinlemurēs“spirits of the dead”
- Englishlemur
From Latin lemurēs (“spirits of the dead”). The name was originally given to the red slender loris (then Lemur tardigradus) in 1754 by Carl Linnaeus. According to Linnaeus, the name was selected because of the nocturnal activity and slow movements of the red slender loris. In 1758, Linnaeus added, among others, the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) to the genus Lemur. All other species, including the red slender loris, were eventually moved to other genera. In time, the word became the colloquial name for all primates endemic to Madagascar.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans lemur
- lemurstrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Arabic لَيْمُور
- لَيْمُور (laymūr)strepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Basque lemur
- lemurstrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Bengali লেমুর
- লেমুর (lemur)strepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Bulgarian лему́р
- лему́р (lemúr)strepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Catalan lèmur, maqui
- lèmurstrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
- maquistrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Chinese Mandarin 狐猴
- 狐猴 (húhóu)strepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Czech lemur
- lemurstrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Dutch lemuur
- lemuurstrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Esperanto lemuro
- lemurostrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Finnish maki, makimainen puoliapina
- makistrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
- makimainen puoliapinastrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
French lémur, lémurien
- lémurstrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
- lémurienstrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
German Lemur, Lemure
- Lemurstrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
- Lemurestrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Greek λεμούριος
- λεμούριος (lemoúrios)strepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Hebrew לֶמוּר
- לֶמוּר (lemúr)strepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Hindi लीमर
- लीमर (līmar)strepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Hungarian maki, makimajom
- makistrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
- makimajomstrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Icelandic lemúr
- lemúrstrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Indonesian warik
- warikstrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Italian lemure
- lemurestrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Japanese 狐猿, キツネザル
- 狐猿 (kitsunezaru)strepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
- キツネザル (kitsunezaru)strepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Korean 여우원숭이
- 여우원숭이 (yeouwonsung'i)strepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Lithuanian lemūras
- lemūrasstrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Māori rīmā
- rīmāstrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Norwegian lemur
- lemurstrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Persian لمور
- لمور (lemur)strepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Polish lemur
- lemurstrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Portuguese lêmure
- lêmurestrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Romanian lemur, lemurian
- lemurstrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
- lemurianstrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Russian лему́р
- лему́р (lemúr)strepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Spanish lémur
- lémurstrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Swedish lemur
- lemurstrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Tagalog lemur
- lemurstrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Thai ลีเมอร์
- ลีเมอร์ (lii-mə̂ə)strepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Turkish maki
- makistrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Ukrainian лему́р
- лему́р (lemúr)strepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Vietnamese vượn cáo
- vượn cáostrepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with lemur
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
lemur. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lemur
“lemur.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lemur. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lemur,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lemur.
Source: lemur on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.