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orangutan

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Orangutan Wildlife Tour
borneo orangutan tour & dayak long ears tribe
www.adventureindonesia.com

o⋅rang⋅u⋅tan

  [aw-rang-oo-tan, oh-rang-, uh-rang-]
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–noun
a large, long-armed anthropoid ape, Pongo pygmaeus, of arboreal habits, inhabiting Borneo and Sumatra: an endangered species.
Also, o⋅rang-u⋅tan, o⋅rang⋅u⋅tang, o⋅rang-ou⋅tang  [aw-rang-oo-tang, oh-rang-, uh-rang-] .
Also called orang.

Origin:
1690–1700; < NL, D orang outang, appar. < pidgin or bazaar Malay: lit., forest man (Malay orang man, person + (h)utan forest
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Orangutan Wildlife Tour
borneo orangutan tour & dayak long ears tribe
www.adventureindonesia.com
o·rang·u·tan   (ô-rāng'ə-tān', ō-rāng'-, ə-rāng'-)   
n.  An arboreal anthropoid ape (Pongo pygmaeus) of Borneo and Sumatra, having a shaggy reddish-brown coat, very long arms, and no tail.

[Malay orang hutan : orang, man + hutan, wilderness, jungle.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

orangutan 
1699, from Du. orang-outang, from Malay orang utan, lit. "man of the woods," from orang "man" + utan, hutan "forest, wild." It is possible that the word originally was used by town-dwellers on Java to describe savage forest tribes of the Sunda Islands and that Europeans misunderstood it to mean the ape. The name is not now applied in Malay to the animal, but there is evidence that it was so in 17c.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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