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The monkey has a prehensile tail.
The elephant has a prehensile trunk.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'prehensile.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
You may be familiar with "prehensile" from the animal world: monkeys have prehensile tails, elephants have prehensile trunks, giraffes have prehensile tongues, etc. But can you comprehend where this word comes from? Can you apprehend its derivation? The Latin verb prehendere, meaning "to seize or grasp," is the ancestor of a number of English terms, including "comprehend," "apprehend," and "prehensile." "Prehensile" came into English in the 1780s via French préhensile, from Latin prehensus, the past participle of "prehendere."
First Known Use: circa 1785
in the meaning defined at sense 1
See Words from the same year: capable of grabbing or holding something by wrapping around it
See words that rhyme with prehensile Spanish Central: Translation of prehensile Nglish: Translation of prehensile for Spanish speakers
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