rhesus

[ ree-suhs ]

noun

1. a macaque, Macaca mulatta, of India, used in experimental medicine.

Rhesus

/ ˈriːsəs /

noun

1. Greek myth a king of Thrace, who arrived in the tenth year of the Trojan War to aid Troy. Odysseus and Diomedes stole his horses because an oracle had said that if these horses drank from the River Xanthus, Troy would not fall

Other Words From

• rhe·sian [ree, -sh, uh, n], adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of rhesus¹

1830–40; < New Latin, arbitrary use of Latin Rhēsus name of a Thracian king allied with Troy < Greek Rhêsos

Example Sentences

The rhesus macaque fugitives busted out of Alpha Genesis, a company that breeds primates for medical testing and research, and are on the loose in a part of the state known as the Lowcountry.

From BBC

By decoding monkeys' reward expectations from the neural activity, they were able to predict how long the rhesus monkeys were willing to wait for a higher reward and when they decided to choose another option.

From Science Daily

For example, in rhesus monkeys, infants who are separated from their mothers soon after birth, are more susceptible to disease later in life.

From Science Daily

They also isolated two antibodies from rhesus macaques -- a species of monkey with immune systems like humans' -- who previously had received a vaccine regimen designed to generate fusion peptide-directed antibodies.

From Science Daily

Chinese researchers have cloned the first rhesus monkey, a species which is widely used in medical research because its physiology is similar to humans.

From BBC