chimp
part of speech
noun (a chimp, chimps)
meaning for a pupil
1) A chimp is a chimpanzee, a clever, hairy African ape that lives in groups in forests and is one of the closest animal relatives of humans. tree →
2) (informal) People sometimes call a cheeky, silly person a chimp, in a joking way. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons chimps come up in classification (they are apes, not monkeys), animal intelligence (they use sticks as tools to catch termites) and conservation (they are endangered). Jane Goodall is famous for watching wild chimps for many years. In everyday talk «chimp» is just the short, friendly word for chimpanzee.
examples
- The chimp used a stick to fish for termites. tree →
- Chimps live in groups in the forests of Africa. tree →
- A baby chimp rides on its mother's back. tree →
- Chimps are apes, so they have no tail. tree →
- Jane Goodall studied wild chimps for many years. tree →
- Stop acting like a chimp and sit down! tree →
- The zoo's chimps hooted when the keeper arrived. tree →
note
Plural «chimps». Informal short form of «chimpanzee»; in a science report use «chimpanzee». Trap: chimps are apes, not monkeys — monkeys usually have tails, apes do not. Myth: humans did not come from chimps; humans and chimps share an ancestor from long ago.
In the corpora
- Gorillas and chimps walk on all fours leaning on their knuckles, while orangutans walk on their fists or the sides of their hands.
- It is a myth that people came from chimps: chimps and humans are cousins who both changed from a common ancestor.
- Chimps groom each other to remove dirt and bugs, but also to make friends and make up after fights.
- Jane Goodall spent her life protecting chimps and teaching children about nature, until she died in 2025.
- Young chimps learn tricks like this by watching their mothers for years, the way you learned to tie your laces by watching someone.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «chimp» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.