Edit page | Page history | Printable version

orang-outang

(Science: zoology) An arboreal anthropoid ape (simia satyrus), which inhabits borneo and Sumatra. Often called simply orang.

Alternative forms: orang-outan, orang-utan, ourang-utang, and oran-utan.

It is over four feet high, when full grown, and has very long arms, which reach nearly or quite to the ground when the body is erect. Its colour is reddish brown. In structure, it closely resembles man in many respects.

Origin: Malayan rang tan, i. E, man of the woods; rang man _ tan a forest, wood, wild, savage.