A young ape; an ape-child or juvenile ape; also can mean a person who apes or imitates others.
From 'ape' + '-ling' (diminutive suffix), as in 'duckling', 'seedling', 'hireling'. The '-ling' suffix comes from Old English and creates a word meaning a small version or a person characterized by something.
The '-ling' suffix in English is particularly charming because it can mean both 'a small version of something' (duckling) and 'a person who does something' (hireling), so 'apeling' could be either a baby ape or a persistent imitator.
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