quadrumanous

English

Etymology

From Latin quattuor (“four”) +‎ manus (“hand”), or alternatively from translingual Quadrumana +‎ -ous.

Adjective

quadrumanous (comparative more quadrumanous, superlative most quadrumanous)

1. Having four feet whose first digits are opposable; applies to all non-human primates.
   • 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:

     I've seen one monkey force open the jaws of his brother, resolutely introduce his fingers, pluck from the sanctuary of his cheek the filbert he had just stowed there for his private nutrition and delight, and crunch and eat it with a stern ecstasy of selfishness, himself; and I fancy that the feelings of the quadrumanous victim, his jaws aching, his pouch outraged, and his bon-bouche in the miscreant's mouth, a little resembles those of the physician who has suffered so hideous a mortification as that of Toole.

Related terms

• Quadrumana
• quadrumane