lemur

noun

le·​mur ˈlē-mər How to pronounce lemur (audio)
: any of various arboreal diurnal or nocturnal, chiefly arboreal primates (superfamily Lemuroidea) of Madagascar and the Comoros Islands that usually have a longish muzzle, large eyes, very soft woolly fur, and a long furry tail and that feed on fruit and plant parts (such as leaves, flowers, and seeds) and sometimes insects and small animals

Note: Unlike most other primates, lemurs have a well-developed sense of smell. Physical and genetic characteristics indicate that all lemurs descended from a common prosimian ancestor that arrived in Madagascar approximately 55 to 60 million years ago.

Though matriarchy is rare in primates, female dominance is the norm for most lemur species.Patricia Edmonds
As a consequence of these activities and others, such as illicit hunting, most of the larger extant lemurs of Madagascar have very restricted ranges,David A. Burney and Ross D. E. MacPhee
… chimpanzees and sifakas, a species of lemur from Madagascar, are more active and show less stereotypical behavior when shifted from indoor to outdoor enclosures.Jeffrey P. Cohn

Illustration of lemur

Illustration of lemur

Examples of lemur in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The team designed an experiment using brown lemurs in pairs and groups of three. Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 8 Aug. 2024 The benefit to guests, of course, is running into these majestic creatures all around the island; an encounter with the gentle lemurs—who will eat from your hand and climb atop your shoulder for a ride—really captures the magic of this endeavor. Shannon McMahon, Condé Nast Traveler, 23 Apr. 2024 Joined by a capybara, a lemur, a bird, and a dog, the cat embarks on a perilous journey by boat in search of dry land. Clayton Davis, Variety, 13 Aug. 2024 The film is an eco-fable that follows a courageous cat who, following a cataclysmic flood, teams up with a group of other animals — a bird, a dog, a lemur and a capybara — to pilot a boat in search of dry land. Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Aug. 2024 See all Example Sentences for lemur 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lemur.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin Lemur, genus name (now applied only to the ring-tailed lemur, Lemur catta), going back to Latin lemurēs, plural, "malevolent spirits of the dead" — more at lemures

Note: The genus name Lemur was used by linnaeus in Systema naturae, tenth edition, vol. 1 (Stockholm, 1758), pp. 29-30. He applied the name to three animals, the slender loris of Sri Lanka (now Loris tardigradus), the ring-tailed lemur (still Lemur catta), and the colugo or flying lemur (now Cynocephalus volans). In an earlier work, a description of specimens in the museum of the Swedish king Adolf Frederick (Museum …Adolphi Friderici regis, Stockholm, 1754), Linnaeus introduced Lemur exclusively as a name for the slender loris, the basic anatomy of which he describes (pp. 3-4). He explains the name as follows: "I have called these lemures because they walk around primarily at night, resembling to a degree humans, and wander with a slow step" ("Lemures dixi hos, quod noctu imprimis obambulant, hominibus quodammodo similes, & lento passu vagant"). The work is written in both Latin and Swedish in parallel columns, and in the corresponding Swedish text the animal is named pysling (now pyssling) "little person, dwarf, troll"—not an accurate equivalent of Latin lemur, and perhaps suggesting that Linnaeus did not completely understand the meaning of the word.

First Known Use

1795, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of lemur was in 1795

Dictionary Entries Near lemur

Cite this Entry

“Lemur.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lemur. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

Kids Definition

lemur

noun
le·​mur ˈlē-mər How to pronounce lemur (audio)
: any of various tree-dwelling primates that are active at night, usually have large eyes, very soft woolly fur, and a long furry tail and were formerly widespread but are now found mainly in Madagascar
Etymology

from Latin lemurēs "malevolent spirits of the dead, ghosts"

Word Origin
The name lemur was first used by the great Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, who introduced the scientific classification of all living creatures by genus and species. Curiously, Linnaeus did not first apply the Latin word, which means "malevolent spirit of the dead, ghost," to the animals we now know as lemurs, but rather to the loris, which, like some lemurs, is tree-dwelling and active at night. Later Linnaeus extended the name Lemur to one of the true lemurs of Madagascar. Subsequently, scientists changed the animals' classification, introducing the name Loris for the loris but retaining Lemur for one species of this family of primates, the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta), and applying the common name "lemur" to all other members of the family.

More from Merriam-Webster on lemur

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!