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gibbon

noun

  1. family of apes
L321227 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈɡɪbən/ / /ɡɪˈbɑn/

name

Etymology: From Old French Giboin, from Frankish *Gebawin (literally “Gift-friend”).

  1. A surname.

noun

Etymology: Reborrowing from French gibbon, folk etymology (compare English Gibbon) ultimately from a Northern Aslian language (compare Batek kəboɲ).

  1. A small ape of the family Hylobatidae with long limbs, which they use to travel through rainforests by swinging from branch to branch.

    '[…] Suppose that in years to come, when the Church's troubles seem to be over, there should come an apostate of my own trade, a false historian, with the mind of Cicero or Tacitus and the soul of an animal,' and he nodded towards the gibbon who fretted his golden chain and chattered for fruit.