gorilla

gorilla

See also: Gorilla, górilla, and goril·la

English

A male silverback Gorilla

Taxidermied gorilla specimen at the American Museum of Natural History

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Γόριλλαι (Górillai, “Gorillai (a tribe of hairy women)”), described by Hanno the Navigator, a Carthaginian navigator and possible visitor to the area that later became Sierra Leone; the Greek word is likely from Punic, and ultimately from an African language.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɡəˈɹɪl.ə/, /ɡɒˈɹɪl.ə/[1][2]
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɡəˈɹɪl.ə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪlə
• Homophone: guerrilla

Noun

gorilla (plural gorillas)

1. The largest of the apes, belonging to the genus Gorilla, native to the forests of central Africa and known for their trait of knuckle-walking.
   • 1893, Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, volume 27, pages 133, 135:

     In three of these twenty gorillæ 14 ribs are present, and the additional rib in each of them is below. […] The conclusion that the usual place of commencement of the dorsal type in the gorilla is between the 12th and 13th dorsal vertebræ is founded on notes taken of this character in 13 of these gorillæ.

2. A big and brutish man or a thug; a goon or ruffian.
   • 1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, When the World Screamed‎:

     "I'll do the old gorilla the justice to say that he is open-handed with money."

3. (informal) A powerful person or organization; a heavyweight or behemoth.
   • 1977, Computerworld (volume 11, number 19, page 58)

     The two industry gorillas — IBM and AT&T — will get together to decide who will provide different communications services, Biddle stated.

Derived terms

• 800-pound gorilla
• Chicagorilla
• eastern gorilla
• gorilla in the room
• gorilla pimp
• gorilla salad
• Gorilla Sign Language
• gorilless
• mountain gorilla
• western gorilla

 

Related terms

• Godzilla
• Gorillai

Descendants

• → Japanese: ゴリラ (gorira)
• → Korean: 고릴라 (gorilla)
• → Thai: กอริลลา (gɔɔ-rin-lâa)

Translations

ape

Arabic: غُورِيلَا‎ f (ḡūrīlā) Aragonese: gorila m Armenian: գորիլլա (hy) (gorilla) Asturian: gorila m Azerbaijani: qorilla Belarusian: гары́ла f (harýla) Bengali: গরিলা (bn) (gôrila) Bulgarian: горила (bg) f (gorila) Catalan: goril·la (ca) m Cerma: worniŋo Cherokee: ᎠᏓᎵᏍᎩᏱᏍᎩ ᎤᏔᎾ (adalisgiyisgi utana), ᎪᎵᎳ (golila) Chinese: Cantonese: 大猩猩 (daaih sīng sīng) Mandarin: 大猩猩 (zh) (dàxīngxing) Czech: gorila (cs) f Dutch: gorilla (nl) m Esperanto: gorilo Estonian: gorilla (et) Finnish: gorilla (fi) French: gorille (fr) m Galician: gorila m Georgian: გორილა (gorila) German: Gorilla (de) m Greek: γορίλας (el) m (gorílas) Hindi: गोरिल्ला (hi) m (gorillā) Hungarian: gorilla (hu) Icelandic: górilla (is) f Ido: gorilo (io) Irish: goraille m Italian: gorilla (it) m Japanese: ゴリラ (ja) (gorira) Kazakh: горилла (gorilla) Korean: 고릴라 (ko) (gorilla) Navajo: mágítsoh Norman: gorille m (Jersey) Norwegian: gorilla (no) m Palauan: korira Persian: گوریل‎ (fa) (goril) Polish: goryl (pl) m Portuguese: gorila (pt) m Romanian: gorilă (ro) f Russian: гори́лла (ru) f (gorílla) Rwanda-Rundi: ingagi Serbo-Croatian: gorila (sh) Slovak: gorila (sk) f Spanish: gorila (es) m Swahili: ngagi class 9/10 Swedish: gorilla (sv) c Tagalog: gorilya Thai: กอริลลา (th) (gɔɔ-rin-lâa), ลิงกอริลลา (ling-gor-rin-laa) Turkish: goril (tr) Ukrainian: гори́ла f (horýla) Urdu: گورلا‎ m (gorillā) Vietnamese: khỉ đột, đại tinh tinh (大猩猩) Wolof: dàngin gi (wo) Yiddish: גאָרילע‎ f (gorile)

thug

Finnish: gorilla (fi) Greek: γορίλας (el) m (gorílas) Russian: банди́т (ru) (bandít), громи́ла (ru) (gromíla) Serbo-Croatian: gorila (sh), grmalj (sh) Slovak: gorila (sk) f Swedish: gorilla (sv)

References

1. The Chambers Dictionary, 9th Ed., 2003
2. “gorilla”, in Collins English Dictionary.

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from translingual Gorilla.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɣoːˈrɪ.laː/

• audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: go‧ril‧la
• Rhymes: -ɪlaː

Noun

gorilla m (plural gorilla's, diminutive gorillaatje n)

1. gorilla, primate of the genus Gorilla

Derived terms

• berggorilla
• laaglandgorilla

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Finnish

Etymology

From English gorilla, from Ancient Greek Γόριλλαι (Górillai).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡorilːɑ/, [ˈɡo̞rilːɑ]
• Rhymes: -orilːɑ
• Syllabification^(key): go‧ril‧la

Noun

gorilla

1. gorilla

Declension

Inflection of gorilla (Kotus type 13/katiska, no gradation)
nominative		gorilla	gorillat
genitive		gorillan	gorilloiden gorilloitten gorillojen
partitive		gorillaa	gorilloita gorilloja
illative		gorillaan	gorilloihin
		singular	plural
nominative		gorilla	gorillat
accusative	nom.	gorilla	gorillat
	gen.	gorillan
genitive		gorillan	gorilloiden gorilloitten gorillojen gorillainrare
partitive		gorillaa	gorilloita gorilloja
inessive		gorillassa	gorilloissa
elative		gorillasta	gorilloista
illative		gorillaan	gorilloihin
adessive		gorillalla	gorilloilla
ablative		gorillalta	gorilloilta
allative		gorillalle	gorilloille
essive		gorillana	gorilloina
translative		gorillaksi	gorilloiksi
instructive		—	gorilloin
abessive		gorillatta	gorilloitta
comitative		—	gorilloineen

Possessive forms of gorilla (type katiska)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	gorillani	gorillamme
2nd person	gorillasi	gorillanne
3rd person	gorillansa

Compounds

• vuorigorilla

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Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɡorilːɒ]

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: go‧ril‧la
• Rhymes: -lɒ

Noun

gorilla (plural gorillák)

1. gorilla
2. (figuratively) gorilla, muscleman, henchman

Declension

Inflection (stem in long/high vowel, back harmony)
	singular	plural
nominative	gorilla	gorillák
accusative	gorillát	gorillákat
dative	gorillának	gorilláknak
instrumental	gorillával	gorillákkal
causal-final	gorilláért	gorillákért
translative	gorillává	gorillákká
terminative	gorilláig	gorillákig
essive-formal	gorillaként	gorillákként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	gorillában	gorillákban
superessive	gorillán	gorillákon
adessive	gorillánál	gorilláknál
illative	gorillába	gorillákba
sublative	gorillára	gorillákra
allative	gorillához	gorillákhoz
elative	gorillából	gorillákból
delative	gorilláról	gorillákról
ablative	gorillától	gorilláktól
non-attributive possessive - singular	gorilláé	gorilláké
non-attributive possessive - plural	gorilláéi	gorillákéi

Possessive forms of gorilla
possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	gorillám	gorilláim
2nd person sing.	gorillád	gorilláid
3rd person sing.	gorillája	gorillái
1st person plural	gorillánk	gorilláink
2nd person plural	gorillátok	gorilláitok
3rd person plural	gorillájuk	gorilláik

Further reading

• gorilla in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

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Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡoˈril.la/
• Rhymes: -illa
• Hyphenation: go‧rìl‧la

Noun

gorilla m (invariable)

1. gorilla

Anagrams

• Gallori

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Γόριλλαι (Górillai, “a tribe of hairy women”).

Noun

gorilla m (definite singular gorillaen, indefinite plural gorillaer, definite plural gorillaene)

1. a gorilla

References

• “gorilla” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Γόριλλαι (Górillai, “a tribe of hairy women”).

Noun

gorilla m (definite singular gorillaen, indefinite plural gorillaer or gorillaar, definite plural gorillaene or gorillaane)

1. a gorilla

References

• “gorilla” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Swedish

Noun

gorilla c

1. gorilla

Declension

Declension of gorilla
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	gorilla	gorillan	gorillor	gorillorna
Genitive	gorillas	gorillans	gorillors	gorillornas

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West Frisian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

gorilla c (plural gorilla's)

1. gorilla