Nearby Words

orangutang

[aw-rang-oo-tan, oh-rang-, uh-rang-] Origin

o·rang·u·tan

[aw-rang-oo-tan, oh-rang-, uh-rang-]
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; < Neo-Latin, Dutch orang outang, apparently < pidgin or bazaar Malay: literally, forest man (Malay orang man, person + (h)utan forest
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Orangutang is always a great word to know.
So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
Etymonline
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.
EXPAND
The name is not now applied in Malay to the animal, but there is evidence that it was so in 17c.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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