Donkey

How to spell donkey

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce donkey

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does donkey mean?

1. nounA domesticated hoofed animal related to the horse, with long ears and a reputation for being hardy and stubborn.
2. nounA mildly insulting informal term for a foolish or obstinate person.

Donkey in a sentence

• The farm kept one donkey alongside two ponies.

• He felt like a complete donkey after locking his keys in the car.

• Tourists paid to ride a donkey along the beach.

• Calling a colleague a donkey during the meeting was unwise.

Where does donkey come from?

Language of origin: Unknown

Donkey is a surprisingly young word, appearing in English only in the late 1700s, and its exact origin is genuinely uncertain. One leading idea links it to dun, the old English word for a dull greyish-brown colour, since the animal is so often that shade; the ending may simply echo monkey, with which it once rhymed. Before donkey caught on, the usual English word was ass, from the Latin asinus, and donkey seems to have arisen partly as a polite or playful substitute. Early evidence suggests it was first pronounced to rhyme with monkey, which is one reason the spelling settled on the same -key ending. Because the word was coined informally rather than borrowed from a classical source, lexicographers can only label its history as probable rather than proven.

How the word is built

• donk- (uncertain root, perhaps from dun, a dull greyish-brown colour)
• -ey (noun ending paralleling monkey)