titi monkey

9.6

A small South American monkey with long soft fur and a tail that cannot hold things

noun

: mono titi

Titi monkeys are social animals that live in family groups and are often seen playing with each other.

Examples

The titi monkey is known for its long fur and nonprehensile tail as it swings through the trees.
In the Amazon rainforest, you can often hear the distinctive calls of titi monkeys echoing through the forest.
Voss played me an interview with a hunter that included the man's evocative imitations of the calls of titi monkeys.

Academic text (2000)

Synonyms

monkey

vstiti monkey

931 1.0

A small to medium animal with a long tail that lives in trees

is narrower, naming small long-furred South American primates found in forests

titi

vstiti monkey

1 9.9

A small South American monkey with long silky fur and a long tail that cannot hold things

is a more general term for small forest-dwelling primates

Surface Forms

titi monkey singular

titi monkeys plural

Morphology

titi + monkey

The meaning is directly compositional: 'titi' names a specific small monkey and 'monkey' is the general class, so the compound simply denotes that species. This noun+noun species-name pattern is regular and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can derive the meaning.

Etymology

The noun titi monkey may come from the animal's call. One popular story says the short sound 'titi' sounded like the monkey's cry, so people called it titi, and titi monkey came to mean a small South American monkey.