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Gib·bon

(gĭbən), Edward 1737-1794.

British historian who wrote The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-1788).

gib·bon

(gĭbən)

Any of various small arboreal apes of the family Hylobatidae of Southeast Asia, having a slender body, long arms, and no tail.

[French, applied to the animals by Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle, in which the word is said to be a local name in a language of Southeast Asia.]

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gibbon

Bornean gibbon

Hylobates muelleri

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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