macaco

• IPA^(key): /məˈkeɪkəʊ/, /məˈkɑːkoʊ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

From Portuguese macaco (“monkey”). Doublet of macaque.

macaco (plural macacos or macacoes)

1. A macaque, or similar monkey.

• → Welsh: macaco

From French mococo, probably ultimately from Malagasy maka, maki (“lemur”).

• macauco, maucaco

macaco (plural macacos or macacoes)

1. (obsolete) Any of several species of lemur, including the white-headed lemur, ruffed lemur, and ring-tailed lemur.

• ring-tailed macaco, ring-tailed macauco
• crowned macauco

• Cocama, accoma

• macacco

From Portuguese macaco, possibly from a Bantu language.

• IPA^(key): /maˈka.ko/
• Rhymes: -ako
• Hyphenation: ma‧cà‧co

macaco m (plural macachi)

1. macaque
2. fool, dunce

Borrowed from Portuguese macaco.

• IPA^(key): /maˈkaku/ [mɐˈka.ku]
• Rhymes: -aku
• Syllabification: ma‧ca‧co

macaco m (plural macacos)

1. monkey
2. a person that imitates others
3. a treacherous, deceitful person

• Ferreira, Amadeu; Ferreira, José Pedro Cardona (2003–2022), “macaco”, in Dicionário de Mirandês-Português [Mirandese-Portuguese Dictionary].

• Rhymes: -aku
• Hyphenation: ma‧ca‧co

Unknown. Thought to have been borrowed from a Bantu language.^[1][2][3] Bantu maka, "cat", comes from -mañga (an old East African Bantu word for the sea-coast, often applied to any strange or foreign product). But it seems unlikely that the Bantu would have used such a word to denote familiar animals like apes and monkeys. However, none of the many Bantu words for apes and monkeys resembles "macaco".^[4] Other suggested derivations include:

• from Kongo makaku (“monkeys”)^[5]
• from a language of Madagascar^[6] (compare macaco, macauco, maucaco (“any of several lemurs”), perhaps related to maky);
• from Kari'na macaca (“simian”), though it may have been loaned into Galibi from a language of African slaves;^[6]
• from dialectal French macao (“cat; monkey; long-tailed monkey”), allegedly used in Normandy and Berry.^[6]

macaco m (plural macacos, feminine macaca, feminine plural macacas)

2. monkey; ape

   Synonyms: símio, mono

3. (derogatory) ape; savage (an uncivilised or unruly person)

   Synonyms: bárbaro, selvagem

4. (derogatory) monster; freak (a hideous person)

   Synonyms: monstro, aberração, mostrengo

5. (Brazil, offensive, ethnic slur) monkey (derogatory term for a black person)

• A distinction is not commonly made between apes and monkeys in Portuguese. Where it is, mono is used for apes and macaco for middle-sized simians. A more common distinction is made between macacos and micos (“small, long-tailed simians”).

macaco m (plural macacos)

2. jack (device for raising and supporting a heavy object)
3. (Portugal, informal) a booger (a piece of solid or semi-solid mucus)

   Synonym: catota

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

macaco

1. first-person singular present indicative of macacar

• “macaco”, in Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisboa: Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, 2001–2026
• “macaco”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “macaco”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from Portuguese macaco, possibly from a Bantu language.

• IPA^(key): /maˈkako/ [maˈka.ko]
• Rhymes: -ako
• Syllabification: ma‧ca‧co

macaco m (plural macacos)

1. macaque
2. hobgoblin, bogeyman
3. (South America, derogatory, offensive, racist) Brazilian

   Synonyms: brasileño, (colloquial) brasilero

4. (Louisiana) monkey

   Synonyms: mono, chango, maimón, mico, simio

macaco (feminine macaca, masculine plural macacos, feminine plural macacas)

1. (slang) ugly, misshapen, deformed, squat

• “macaco”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025