jackanapes

See also: jack-a-napes

English

WOTD – 10 February 2025

Pronunciation

An 1892 photograph of an organ grinder with a monkey. In the past, a tame ape or monkey kept for entertainment or as a pet was colloquially called a jackanapes (etymology 1 sense 1).
The heraldic badge of the English military commander and statesman William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk (1396–1450) was an ape’s chain and clog (that is, a weight attached to the ape to hinder its movement). This led to Suffolk being given the derogatory nickname “Iack napys”, from which the word jackanapes is derived.
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈd͡ʒækəneɪps/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈd͡ʒækəˌneɪps/
  • Hyphenation: jack‧an‧apes

Etymology 1

From Middle English iack napys, iac nape, iac napes (“derogatory nickname of the English military commander and statesman William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk (1396–1450)”),[1] probably from Jacun or Jakin (“pet forms of the male name Jack”) + ape (“ape, monkey”)[2] + -s (possibly modelled after surnames such as Hobbes and Jakkes), referring to Suffolk’s heraldic badge which was an ape’s chain and clog (“weight such as a block of wood or log attached to an animal to hinder motion”) (see the image, right). It is uncertain whether the word was first coined as a nickname for Suffolk (the earliest known uses), or to refer to an ape or an ape-like person. If the word was originally a nickname, some early uses of etymology 1 sense 2.1 (“person thought to behave like an ape or monkey”) may allude to Suffolk who was widely regarded as an upstart, having risen from the merchant class.[3][4]

In later uses, the middle element of the word was often treated as the indefinite article a or an, that is, as if the word meant “Jack, an ape”.[3]

Noun

jackanapes (plural jackanapeses)

  2. (obsolete) (A proper name for) an ape or monkey, especially a tame one kept for entertainment or as a pet.
  3. (by extension)
    2. (derogatory, dated) (A proper name for) a person thought to behave like an ape or monkey, for example, in being impudent, mischievous, vain, etc.; specifically (chiefly humorous), an impudent or mischievous child.
      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:malapert, Thesaurus:troublemaker
      Coordinate term: (obsolete, rare) Jane-of-apes
    3. (obsolete, Christianity, derogatory, rare) A crucifix.
    4. (obsolete, mining) A small pulley which keeps a rope in line when lifting ore, water, etc., from a mine.
Usage notes

Jackanapes is also analyzed as a plural form due to the -s, which led to the back-formation jackanape as a singular form.[5]

Alternative forms
Derived terms
Translations
See also

Etymology 2

From jackanape +‎ -s (suffix forming regular plurals of nouns).

Noun

jackanapes

  1. plural of jackanape

References

  1. ^ “[jak(ke] nape(s” under “jak(ke, n.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “āpe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 “jackanapes, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024; “jackanapes, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022..
  4. ^ “It’s the Southern End of a Northbound Jackalope”, in The Word Detective‎[1], 24 March 2004, archived from the original on 16 May 2024.
  5. ^ Charles P. G. Scott (1894), “IV.—English Words which hav Gaind or Lost an Initial Consonant by Attraction. Third Paper.”, in Transactions of the American Philological Association, volume XXV, Boston, Mass.: [F]or the [American Philological] Association by Ginn & Company, […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 113.

Further reading

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