Pithecia
/pɪˈθiːsiə/noun
A genus of New World monkeys commonly known as sakis, native to South America.
Did you know?The Greek word píthēkos meant “ape,” but historical linguists cannot securely connect it to a deeper Indo-European root, making its ultimate origin genuinely obscure.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Greek
Greek
πίθηκος (píthēkos)
“Ape or monkey”
Classical Greek
Greek
πιθηκικός (pithēkikós)
“Ape-like or pertaining to apes”
18th–19th Century
Scientific Latin
Pithecia
“A taxonomic genus name formed from the Greek ape-word”
1811
Scientific Latin
Pithecia
“Genus established by Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger for the sakis”
Modern English
English
Pithecia
“The biological genus containing the saki monkeys”
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