African green monkey
- noun
- South African
:
mono verde africano
- The African green monkey is known for its playful behavior in the savanna.
Examples
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Jakob and then Lilli argued that Africa could not be the continent of origin and that the retrovirus isolated from the African green monkey could not be an ancestor of HIV.
Academic text (2013) -
In the same year, Segal started to deal with the origins topic, several experts suggested—without real evidence, he said—that the predecessor of the AIDS agent might have been a recently discovered virus that infected African green monkeys without causing disease.
Academic text (2013) -
"We're just talking about the African green monkey."
Fiction book (2001) -
As the transport buses pass overhead, African green monkeys, hundreds of them, frolic and chatter in the trees.
Fiction book (1993) -
KLAGES (18) wearing masks, Plexiglas visors, and gloves as they vaccinate a big African green monkey.
Fiction book (1993) -
In the wild, the African green monkey can often be seen swinging from tree to tree.
-
With their striking greenish-grey backs, African green monkeys blend well into their natural habitat.
Synonyms
1
6.5
A West African monkey that lives in open grasslands with a greenish-grey back and a yellow tail
A common West African monkey with a greenish back and a yellow tail that lives on the savannah
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is fully compositional: 'African' specifies geographic origin, 'green' describes color, and 'monkey' names the animal, so a learner who knows the parts can infer it denotes a green-coloured monkey from Africa. This adjective-adjective-noun construction is cross-linguistically common and follows standard modification patterns, making the meaning immediately accessible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
African green monkey comes from a simple picture: a monkey from Africa whose fur is a mix of yellow and black hairs that makes it look green from a distance. So the name describes the animal, 'a monkey species' with a greenish back that lives on the savanna and near rivers.