bonobo

noun

bo·​no·​bo bə-ˈnō-bō How to pronounce bonobo (audio) ˈbä-nə-bō How to pronounce bonobo (audio)
-nō-
plural bonobos
: a rare anthropoid ape (Pan paniscus) that has a more slender build and longer limbs than the related common chimpanzee (P. troglodytes) and that inhabits a small geographic region in equatorial Africa south of the Congo River

called also pygmy chimpanzee

Examples of bonobo in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Theory of mind has previously been considered unique to humans, but the study shows that bonobos share this capability. Jack Guy, CNN, 5 Feb. 2025 The team aspires to tease this question out with future work on bonobos. Jack Tamisiea, Scientific American, 3 Feb. 2025 The bonobo is a primate closely related to chimpanzees. Dennis Romero, NBC News, 27 Oct. 2024 Brian, a young male bonobo located at the Milwaukee Zoo who was isolated from his peers reportedly responded by tearing off his own fingernails and developing a habit of compulsively inserting his hand into his rectum, sometimes enough to draw blood. Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 15 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for bonobo 

Word History

Etymology

origin unknown

First Known Use

1955, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of bonobo was in 1955

Dictionary Entries Near bonobo

Cite this Entry

“Bonobo.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bonobo. Accessed 9 Feb. 2025.

Medical Definition

bonobo

noun
: a rare anthropoid ape of the genus Pan (P. paniscus) that has a more slender build and longer limbs than the related common chimpanzee (P. troglodytes)

called also pygmy chimpanzee

More from Merriam-Webster on bonobo

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