bonobo

American

[buh-noh-boh] / bəˈnoʊ boʊ /

noun

plural

bonobos

a small chimpanzee, Pan paniscus, primarily of swamp forests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, having long legs, black face, pink lips, and parted hair on its head: an endangered species.

bonobo British

/ ˈbɒnəbəʊ /

noun

Also called: pygmy chimpanzee. an anthropoid ape, Pan paniscus , of central W Africa: similar to the chimpanzee but much smaller and having a black face

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of bonobo

First recorded in 1950–55; origin uncertain; probably from a Bantu language spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

To examine how males respond to this unreliable signal, researchers observed a wild bonobo community at Wamba in the Luo Scientific Reserve in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

From Science Daily • Dec. 14, 2025

Similar findings were also reported in another study with a bonobo, in which the bonobo was also able to synchronize its drum beats to a human in the experiment.

From Salon • Jun. 7, 2025

By contrast, Berthet notes that bonobo communication focuses mostly on getting the group together.

From Salon • May 29, 2025

But Fruth and other scientists recognized that Salonga offered a key to unlock much-needed answers for bonobo conservation.

From Science Daily • Dec. 2, 2024

His voice was back, and he sounded like any other baby bonobo as he cried until I held him.

From "Endangered" by Eliot Schrefer

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023