orangutan
Literary or old-fashioned term for orangutan; in modern Japanese, オランウータン is far more common.
In old documents, 猩々 sometimes refers to the orangutan.
Figurative use likening a person who drinks heavily to the mythical red-faced, sake-loving 猩々 creature.
He drinks almost every night; he's a total heavy drinker.
scarlet; bright red
Oriental swamp pink; Heloniopsis orientalis
chimpanzee
northern cardinal; common cardinal
Standard kanji spelling with iteration mark.
Variant spelling without iteration mark.
Originally a mythical creature in Chinese and Japanese folklore, depicted as a red-faced, sake-loving being. The 'orangutan' sense derives from early zoological naming, and the 'heavy drinker' sense is a figurative extension from the mythical creature's love of alcohol.