guariba

Meaning

Noun

• Any of several South American howler monkeys with prehensile tails.

Origin

• From Portuguese, from a Tupi (Nheengatu) name. Other early European spellings/renderings of the same Tupian word include guariva, guariha, uariba, waariba, and in French ouarive/ouariue (which was misread as ouarine, giving rise to that word and, by anglicization of it, to warine).
• The Century Dictionary suggests a possible relation to araguato and/or araba (an obsolete word for a howler monkey of the genus Mycetes); the New English Dictionary directs readers to compare alouatte and araguato.