monkeyese
monkeyese noun: the language supposedly used by monkeys.
Noun
monkeyese (uncountable)
- The language supposedly used by monkeys.
- His [Richard Lynch Garner’s] account of the astonishment of the monkeys when he spoke to them in their own tongue is very amusing. The first word which he translated was “milk,” but as it applied equally to water, he came to the conclusion that it was the monkeyese for “drink.”1891 June, “[Leading Articles in the Reviews.] How I Learned the Language of Monkeys.”, in The Review of Reviews, volume III, number 18, page 574, column 1
- It fell plop on my chest and I heard Ivan shriek just like a girl does when you hold a wiggling snake before her. And that baby monk made a little cry that I swear was “Mama” in Monkeyese, and Mother distinctly said, “Come, my precious.” The next I knew the mother and my baby monkey, that I had...1922, Neil Boyton, “I Celebrate My Fourteenth Birthday”, in Cobra Island: A Catholic Scout’s Adventures, New York, N.Y.; Cincinnati, Oh.; Chicago, Ill.: Benziger Brothers, page 103
- Synonyms:
- monkeyspeak
Examples of monkeyese in a sentence
- I can’t make out the conversation, but Fitzie is talking monkeyese like a native and the little thing is eating a banana and listening to him!”1950, Neil Boyton, “Bananas and the Beast”, in Ex-Cub Fitzie, Milwaukee, Wis.: The Bruce Publishing Company, page 25:
- Imitating the master magician, and after chattering in monkeyese, Sherlock held his right hand to his mouth and mimed blowing into it, as if inflating a balloon.1986, B[arbara] B[ryant] Hiller, Neil W. Hiller, “A Touch of Magic”, in On the Far Side of the Mirror, New York, N.Y.: Scholastic Inc....
- Divehi Raaje / Golden opportunity / BYOG-Bring your own gold / Excellent retirement / After death / Friendly native population / Learn Tigerese, monkeyese, and pythonese1994, Gary Glover, Clip Art: Image Enhancement & Integration, New York, N.Y.: Windcrest/McGraw-Hill, →ISBN, page 17:
- Well?” / The thing chitters at me in monkeyese.1999, Carole Nelson Douglas, “Ya-kitty-yak”, in Cat in a Jeweled Jumpsuit (Midnight Louie Mysteries), New York, N.Y.: Forge, Tom Doherty...
Synonyms of monkeyese
Origin of monkeyese
From monkey + -ese.
Questions about monkeyese
- What does monkeyese mean?
- Monkeyese means the language supposedly used by monkeys.
- How do you use monkeyese in a sentence?
- I can’t make out the conversation, but Fitzie is talking monkeyese like a native and the little thing is eating a banana and listening to him!”
- What part of speech is monkeyese?
- Monkeyese is a noun.
Words near monkeyese in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: monkeyese (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “monkeyese.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/monkeyese. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.