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Chinese
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alert; departed soul; efficacious alert; departed soul; efficacious; quick; effective; intelligence |
long; length; forever long; length; forever; always; constantly; chief; head; elder; to grow; to develop |
| trad. (靈長)
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靈
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長
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| simp. (灵长)
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灵
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长
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Etymology
The modern sense "human/primate" is borrowed from Japanese 霊長. Literally, "having fantastic power (human intelligence), and being the best of all things". Older attestations with other different obsolete meanings also exist.
Pronunciation
Noun
靈長
- (poetic) a nickname of humans (Homo sapiens).
- only used in 靈長目／灵长目 (Língzhǎngmù) and 靈長類／灵长类