What does "tarzanese" mean?

Broken English, such as that spoken by the fictional character Tarzan (as played by film actor Johnny Weissmuller from 1932 to 1948).

What is a synonym for "tarzanese"?

Common synonyms include: tarzan english, tarzan-speak.

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
Broken English, such as that spoken by the fictional character Tarzan (as played by film actor Johnny Weissmuller from 1932 to 1948). uncountable
"On the contrary, one of his favorite everyday expressions is “Umgawa,” which he defines as Tarzanese for “Let’s get the hell out of here.”"

"On the contrary, one of his favorite everyday expressions is “Umgawa,” which he defines as Tarzanese for “Let’s get the hell out of here.”"

From Tarzan + -ese.

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