German word

Affe

Pronunciation

IPA/ˈafə/

Meaning

  • masculine nounmonkey

Example

Im Zoo sehe ich viele Affen.

I see lots of monkeys at the zoo.

Illustration for Affe (monkey)

More examples

Der junge Affe kletterte schnell den Baum hinauf.

The young monkey quickly climbed up the tree.

Core concept

A lively climbing primate, with the same word also used for a person behaving foolishly.

Common phrases

  • ein junger Affe

    a young monkey

  • Affe am Baum

    monkey in the tree

  • den Affen beobachten

    observe the monkey

Similar words

Schimpanse: A large, tailless ape with advanced learning abilities, tool use, and complex social groups.
Gorilla: A muscular, large ape that mainly lives on the ground in family groups.
Orang-Utan: A large forest ape that uses its long arms to move through trees and is mostly solitary.

Definition in German

Allgemeines Nomen für nichtmenschliche Primaten, oft verwendet für lebhafte, kletternde Arten.

Word origin

Affe continues Middle High German affe and Old High German affo, from an inherited Germanic word related to English ape.

Usage tips

  • Affe is masculine, and its plural is the weak-noun form Affen: der Affe, die Affen.

Other meanings

  • apenoun
  • foolnoun

Related words

  • Affenhausmonkey housenoun
  • affigsillyadjective

Word lists with this word