Baboon

//bəˈbuːn// noun, slang

noun, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An Old World monkey of the genus Papio, having dog-like muzzles and large canine teeth, cheek pouches, a short tail, and naked callosities on the buttocks.

    "Mix swallowed the comment he wanted to make, that the council hall stank like a congress of baboons. But he was in no position to insult his host, nor should he. The man was only expressing the attitude of his time."

  2. 2
    large terrestrial monkeys having doglike muzzles wordnet
  3. 3
    A foolish or boorish person. colloquial, derogatory

Synonyms

All synonyms
airheadapebagblemishblotbonehead

Example

More examples

"He has a passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the villagers almost as much as their master."

Etymology

From Middle English babewin, baboin, from Old French babouin, from baboue (“grimace; muzzle”), of West Germanic origin, related to dialectal German Bäppe (“lips; muzzle”), Middle High German beffen (“to bark”), Middle English baffen (“to bark”). See also baff, baffle.

Related phrases

Anubis baboonArabian baboonCape baboonGuinea baboonKinda baboonbaboon spiderbaboon syndromechacma baboondog-faced baboongelada baboonhamadryas baboonlion-tailed baboon

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.