orangutan Hear it!

orangutan definition

orangu·tan (ô raŋ′o̵o tan′)

noun

a great ape (Pongo pygmaeus) with shaggy, reddish-brown hair, very long arms, small ears, and a hairless face: it is smaller than the gorilla and is found only in the swampy, coastal jungles of Borneo and Sumatra
also orangoutang orang′ou·tang′ (-taŋ′)

Etymology: Malay oraṅ utan, lit., man of the forest < oraṅ, man + utan, forest, term for savage tribes: first applied to the ape by Europeans

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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