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rhesus

rhesus

5 8.8
A monkey from southern Asia that scientists often use to study human health
  • noun
  • /ˈriːzəs/
translation icon : rhesus
  • The Emory researchers isolated low-ranking rhesus monkeys and taught them a learning task.
  • rhesus monkeys
  • rhesus macaque
  • Rhesus blood

We really wanted to do this in the primate model and the rhesus model, and we're trying to get that done.

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Examples

  • Now the National Institutes of Health has funded two projects to clone rhesus monkeys.

    Academic text (1999)
  • But chances are there will still be plenty of rhesus macaques around.

    Blog text (18)
  • Wait, you mean that poor rhesus monkey?

  • It's a bad day to be a rhesus monkey.

  • Five of the rhesus monkeys showed results after only three doses.

  • The brown rhesus is sitting up in his cage, weak but eating some lettuce.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • Look, shortly before the funds ran out, two of my technicians caught this bug from a rhesus monkey.

  • The brown rhesus sits in the back of his cage, staring at biosafety-suited doctors crowded around his cage.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • And an animal trapper named Vernan Yates had been hired to trap the rhesus macaque.

    Blog text (30)
  • Researchers have observed a group of rhesus monkeys interacting in their natural habitat.

Synonyms

rhesus monkey
vsrhesus
2 4.2

A medium-sized monkey from South Asia often used in medical research

is a shorter common name rather than the formal species label
Macaca mulatta
vsrhesus
  • Specialized
8.0

A monkey from southern Asia that scientists often use in medical research

is the common everyday name instead of the Latin scientific label

Compounds

A medium-sized monkey from South Asia often used in medical research

rhesus factor
  • Specialized
5.1

A substance in the blood that makes blood Rh-positive or Rh-negative

Surface Forms

rhesus singular
rhesuses plural

Etymology

The word rhesus comes from an old Greek name, Rhesus, a king in a famous myth, and scientists later used that name for a kind of macaque monkey. Because this monkey was important in medical research, the name rhesus was also given to the 'rhesus factor' in blood, which is why doctors still use the name today.