Home › Words › M › mandrillmandrill/ˈmæn.dɹɪl/mandrill means A primate, Mandrillus sphinx, with a colorful face and rump.mandrill is pronounced /ˈmæn.dɹɪl/.EtymologyFrom man + drill (“Mandrillus leucophaeus”). Displaced earlier English man-tiger. First attested in 1744.nounA primate, Mandrillus sphinx, with a colorful face and rump.e.g.“For the Mandrills live in society, and their bands are so powerful in point of numbers, and so crafty in point of management, that they are about as formidable neighbours as could be imagined.” — 1865, John George Wood, The Illustrated Natural History: Mammalia, George Routledge and Sons, page 76:Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).