Donkeys

How to spell donkeys

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce donkeys

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does donkeys mean?

1. nounMore than one donkey; the long-eared domesticated relatives of the horse.

Donkeys in a sentence

• Two donkeys grazed in the field behind the farmhouse.

• The sanctuary cares for rescued donkeys and ponies.

Where does donkeys come from?

Language of origin: Unknown

Donkey is a surprisingly modern word: it appears in English only in the late 1700s, replacing the older 'ass', and its exact origin is genuinely uncertain. The most popular explanation links it to 'dun', the greyish brown colour of many of the animals, with a diminutive ending added on, so 'dun-key' would have meant something like 'little dun one'. Another long standing suggestion is that it grew from the personal name Duncan, used affectionately for the beast much as 'Jenny' came to mean a female donkey. Originally the word rhymed with 'monkey', which gives a clue to its playful, half slang beginnings. The plural is formed simply by adding -s, and because the singular ends in a vowel plus -y ('donkey', not 'donky'), it stays 'donkeys' and does not change to '-ies', which is the one small spelling trap worth remembering.

How the word is built

• donkey (the animal)
• -s (plural suffix)