Main Entry:

go·ril·la

Pronunciation:

\gə-ˈri-lə\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

New Latin, from Greek Gorillai, plural, a tribe of hairy women mentioned in an account of a voyage around Africa

Date:

1847

1: a very large typically black-colored anthropoid ape (Gorilla gorilla) of equatorial Africa that has a stocky body with broad shoulders and long arms and is less erect and has smaller ears than the chimpanzee2 a: an ugly or brutal man b: thug, goon