prosimian

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noun

A primate that is not a monkey or an ape, generally nocturnal with large eyes and ears. Such primates were formerly grouped in the suborder Prosimii, but are now considered a paraphyletic group and not a clade.

OriginEnglish simian ← Ancient Greek πρό (pró) ← Proto-Indo-European *pró →
Scrabble 13
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Meanings

nounprosimian (plural prosimians)

plural prosimians

  1. A primate that is not a monkey or an ape, generally nocturnal with large eyes and ears. Such primates were formerly grouped in the suborder Prosimii, but are now considered a paraphyletic group and not a clade.
adjectiveprosimian (not comparable)
  1. not comparableOf or from the prosimian suborder of primates.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*per-der.?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*pér
  3. Proto-Indo-European*pró
  4. Ancient Greekπρό (pró)
  5. Englishpro-
  6. Englishsimian
  7. Englishprosimian

From pro- + simian.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Catalan prosimi
  • prosimiprimate suborder
Finnish puoliapina
  • puoliapinaprimate suborder
German Halbaffen
  • Halbaffenprimate suborder
Polish małpiatka
  • małpiatkaprimate suborder
Russian полуобезья́на
  • полуобезья́на (poluobezʹjána)primate suborder
Cite this entry
APA

prosimian. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prosimian

MLA

“prosimian.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prosimian. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “prosimian,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prosimian.

Source: prosimian on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.