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gue·non

(gə-nōn)

Any of various small- to medium-sized African monkeys primarily of the tribe Cercopithecini, being chiefly arboreal and having long hind legs, a long tail, and often a brightly colored face.

[French : from guen-, as in guenilles, filthy clothing, and earlier guenipe, dirty scrap of cloth (in reference to the guenon's tail, which trails like the train of a gown ), ultimately from French dialectal guener, to dirty, moisten; akin to French dialectal gasne, stagnant pool, slough, perhaps of Gaulish origin.]

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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