'apeish' originates from English, specifically the word 'ape' + the suffix '-ish', where 'ape' meant 'a primate (ape)' and '-ish' meant 'having the nature of'.

'ape' comes from Old English 'apa' (from Proto-Germanic *apô), and the productive adjectival suffix '-ish' comes from Old English '-isc'; these combined in Middle/early Modern English into forms like 'apeish' to mean 'ape-like', eventually yielding the modern adjective 'apeish'.

Initially it meant 'having the characteristics of an ape' (literally ape-like), but over time it also took on a figurative sense of 'silly, awkward, or excessively imitative.'