orangutan
n. countablen. a large, reddish-brown ape that lives in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. They are known for being very smart and for spending a lot of time in trees.
n. a large, long-limbed, reddish-brown arboreal ape native to the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. The name is derived from the Malay words for 'person of the forest'.
The orangutan spent the whole day swinging through the trees.
Conservationists are working hard to protect the orangutan's habitat from the destruction caused by illegal logging.
Unlike many other primates, the orangutan is primarily a solitary creature, with adult males often maintaining large home ranges that they defend from other males for years at a time.
Probably via Dutch orang-oetan, orang-oetang, apparently from Malay orang hutan, orang utan (literally “forest man”), from orang (“person, man”) + hutan (“forest”), although as a term for the animal it is attested only recently (earlier and preferred terms being mawas and mayas). As there is originally no evidence for its usage, except occasionally literally, it must be assumed to have been regional, or a descriptive collocation used to explain the animal to early travellers. Forms in -ng are alterations after the first element, orang. The name orangutan has been used in Old Javanese texts, notably in Rāmāyaṇa and Smaradahana, in the form of uraṅutan and wuraṅutan. Its usage to refer to the apes in these texts (from as early as the 9th century CE) has been seen as a refutation of claims that the name orangutan originates from a European source.