Meaning

noun any of various primates with short tails or no tail at all

noun someone who copies the words or behavior of another

noun person who resembles a nonhuman primate

originFrom Middle English ape, from Old English apa (“ape, monkey”), from Proto-West Germanic *apō, from Proto-Germanic *apô (“monkey, ape”), possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep- (“water”), compare Proto-Celtic *abū (“river”) (hence English place name Avon, Irish abha, Welsh afon), if the word originally referred to a "water sprite". Traditionally assumed to be an ancient loanword instead,…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0