From Middle English ape, from Old English apa (“ape, monkey”), from Proto-West Germanic *apō, from Proto-Germanic *apô (“monkey, ape”), possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep- (“water”), compare Proto-Celtic *abū (“river”) (hence English place name Avon, Irish abha, Welsh afon), if the word originally referred to a "water sprite". Traditionally assumed to be an ancient loanword instead, ultimately probably from an unidentified non-Indo-European language of regions in Africa or Asia where monkeys are native. Cognate with Scots aip (“ape”), West Frisian aap (“ape”), Dutch aap (“monkey, ape”), Low German Ape (“ape”), German Affe (“monkey, ape”), Swedish apa (“monkey, ape”), Icelandic api (“ape”).
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An anthropoid of the superfamily Hominoidea, generally larger than monkeys and distinguished from them by having no tail.
Of vvhat texte thou proveſt hell / vvill a nother prove purgatory / a nother lymbo patrum / and a nother the aſſumpcion of oure ladi: And a nother ſhall prove of the ſame texte that an Ape hath a tayle.1528 October 12 (Gregorian calendar), William Tyndale, “William Tyndale other wise Called William Hychins vnto the Reader”, in The Obediẽce of a Christen Man […], [Antwerp]: [Johannes Hoochstraten], →OCLC, folio xix, recto:
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A Hominoidea primate other than a human.
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Derogatory An unintelligent or unsophisticated person, especially one who behaves irrationally or in an uncivilised manner.
Animalistic dehumanisation, 'simianisation' and the animalising of black bodies through metaphorically likening these individuals to 'baboons,' 'monkeys' or 'apes' reveals racialised animality discourse in South Africa.2022 October, René Cornish, Kieran Tranter, “Dismissals for Social Media Hate Speech in South Africa: Animalistic Dehumanisation and the Circulation of Racist Words and Images”, in Springer Nature Link:
But he was worried about Leiter in the hands of those clumsy black apes.1954, Ian Fleming, “Mister Big”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 67:
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One who apes; a foolish imitator.
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Internet A person who invests in meme stock, especially one who uses subreddits such as /r/wallstreetbets.
I could not think of a better representation of the good in this world, let alone this r***^([sic]) band of apes on Reddit.2021 February 18, Kate Briquelet, Arya Hodjat, anonymous quotee, “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Tears Into Robinhood CEO at GameStop Hearing: Meanwhile, Reddit's Roaring Kitty showed up for his congressional testimony with viral cat memes”, in Daily Beast, via EBSCOhost:
The tragic consequences of Bed Bath & Beyond's whiplashing fortunes have cast an even darker cloud over Cohen's reputation. But in all likelihood the meme-stock phenomenon is here to stay--even if Cohen and his ilk are profiting off the backs of the "apes" who support them.2022 September 12, Ryan Cohen, “The Money Game: Jen Wieczner”, in New York, volume 55, number 19, via EBSCOhost, →ISSN, pages 14-15:
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In their self-professed and commonly invoked role of “degenerates” and “apes,” r/wallstreetbets commenters regularly adopt language of worship for those they admire, and in the case of GameStop, DeepFuckingValue, aka Roaring Kitty, aka Keith Gill was deemed worthy.2023 October 23, Misti Yang, Christopher Lee Adamczyk, “Gamestop Investors as an Eng(r)aged Digital Public”, in Javnost - The Public, volume 30, number 3, Routledge, →DOI, →ISSN, page 414:
It was however widely misinterpreted by mainstream media as an expression of the inability of the WallStreetBets members to make rational financial decisions (Pearkes, 2021)⁵. The argument that apes were incompetent investors was particularly reliant on one term: loss porn.2024 May 23, Linea Munk Petersen, “Everything you need to know about WallStreetBets: An explainer of the online forum behind the GameStop short squeeze and its creatively subversive poetic terrorism”, in Ephemera: Theory & Politics in Organization, volume 24, number 2, via EBSCOhost, →ISSN, pages 239-240:
With the economy humming and the stock market near record highs, the “apes” are back—and “in full-on risk mode.”2025 August 8, “DORKs: The return of ‘meme stock’ mania”, in Week, volume 25, number 1247, via EBSCOhost, →ISSN, page 33:
From Middle English ape, from Old English apa (“ape, monkey”), from Proto-West Germanic *apō, from Proto-Germanic *apô (“monkey, ape”), possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep- (“water”), compare Proto-Celtic *abū (“river”) (hence English place name Avon, Irish abha, Welsh afon), if the word originally referred to a "water sprite". Traditionally assumed to be an ancient loanword instead, ultimately probably from an unidentified non-Indo-European language of regions in Africa or Asia where monkeys are native. Cognate with Scots aip (“ape”), West Frisian aap (“ape”), Dutch aap (“monkey, ape”), Low German Ape (“ape”), German Affe (“monkey, ape”), Swedish apa (“monkey, ape”), Icelandic api (“ape”).
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To behave like an ape.
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To imitate or mimic, particularly to imitate poorly.
And well their dignity it ſuits, / To ape the gravity of brutes.1772, [Thomas Bridges], “Something by Way of Preface”, in A Burlesque Translation of Homer, London: Printed for S. Hooper, […], →OCLC:
But there’s this difference; one is gold put to the use of paving-stones, and the other is tin polished to ape a service of silver.1847, Emily Brontë, chapter XXI, in Wuthering Heights:
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It is not conceived as a mere “aping” in externals nor as an enacting in the sense of assuming a foreign role.1961, J. A. Philip, “Mimesis in the Sophistês of Plato,”, in Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, volume 92, page 454:
Every year a paper or a book appears, bemoaning the fate of economics and complaining about its attempts to ape physics.2010, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, New York: Random House, →ISBN, page 180:
Now we just need to create hype around the South Park Sucks Now digital coin, so we need to come up with things to give people FOMO and make them ape even harder.2025 October 31, Trey Parker, “The Woman in the Hat”, in South Park, season 28, episode 2, spoken by Kyle Schwartz: