chimp
UK[tʃɪmp]US[tʃɪmp]
n
A chimpanzee, an intelligent ape native to Africa, smaller than a gorilla.
Etymology
The word 'chimp' is a 20th-century abbreviation of 'chimpanzee'. 'Chimpanzee' itself entered English in the 1730s, borrowed from a Bantu language of Angola (likely Kikongo or Tshiluba) as 'chimpenzi'. The original Bantu term is believed to be a compound word, possibly meaning "mockman" or "ape". The clipped form 'chimp' exemplifies a common linguistic process where longer, often loanwords, are shortened for colloquial ease, retaining the core phonetic and semantic identity of the original term.
Analysis
The word is a clipped form, not composed of meaningful morphemes in the traditional sense. 'Chimp' is a direct shortening of the full word 'chimpanzee'.
Examples
The curious chimp used a stick to extract termites from a mound.
Researchers observed complex social behaviors in the troop of chimps.
The baby chimp clung tightly to its mother's back.