monkey (English)

Where does "monkey" come from?

The origin of 'monkey' is uncertain. One proposal is that it comes from 'monk' with the diminutive suffix '-ey'[1][2]. Another is that it was borrowed from Middle Low German 'Moneke', the name of the ape son in the Reynard the Fox tales, which may reflect an unattested colloquial '*moneke'[1]. A further proposed route runs through French and Italian forms such as 'monna' and Old Spanish 'mona' ('female monkey'), possibly back to Arabic 'maymūn' ('baboon')[1][7]. Some scholars instead link Old French 'monnekin' to Middle Dutch 'mannekin', literally 'miniature man'[1].

Open questions

The overall origin of 'monkey' is unresolved, and the source gives several competing proposals without choosing among them. [1]
The Middle Low German form '*moneke' is reconstructed from the Reynard the Fox name 'Moneke' and is not directly attested as a colloquial word. [1]
The proposed route from Arabic 'maymūn' through Old Spanish, Italian, and French to English is a chain of possible borrowings that the evidence does not firmly establish. [1] [7]
Old French 'monnekin' may be unrelated to the Romance forms and instead borrowed from Middle Dutch 'mannekin', which is itself a disputed alternative. [1]

Ancestors

monk (English)
-y (English)
monna (Italian)

Descendants and derived words

antimonkey (English)
Azara's night monkey (English)
bare-eared squirrel monkey (English)
barrel of monkeys (English)
bleeding-heart monkey (English)
bleed the monkey (English)
blue monkey (English)
bonnet monkey (English)
brass monkey (English)
brass monkey (English)
brown woolly monkey (English)
Burmese snub-nosed monkey (English)

Related words

Sources

Updated October 2026

More words starting with M

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris