gorilla

/gəˈrɪlə/

/gəˈrɪlə/

Other forms: gorillas

A gorilla is the world's largest primate — the kind of great, powerful ape you might see on an African safari.

The stocky, large-headed gorilla is one of the most impressive animals you'll come across in the primate area of a zoo. Gorillas are vegetarians whose native habitat is the forest of central west Africa. The word gorilla is sometimes also used to refer to a big, aggressive man. It was first coined in the 19th century by a United States missionary to Africa, from the Greek word gorillai — the word Carthaginian explorer Hanno used to mean "wild, hairy people" in 500 B.C.E.

Definitions of gorilla

1. noun

   largest anthropoid ape; terrestrial and vegetarian; of forests of central west Africa
   synonyms: Gorilla gorilla

   types:

   Gorilla gorilla gorilla, western lowland gorilla

   a kind of gorilla

   Gorilla gorilla grauri, eastern lowland gorilla

   a kind of gorilla

   Gorilla gorilla beringei, mountain gorilla

   gorilla of Kivu highlands

   silverback

   an adult male gorilla with grey hairs across the back

   type of:

   great ape, pongid

   any of the large anthropoid apes of the family Pongidae