donkey
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English
Etymology
The origin is uncertain. Originally a slang term from the late eighteenth century. Perhaps from Middle English *donekie (“a miniature dun horse”), a double diminutive of Middle English don, dun, dunne (a name for a dun horse), equivalent to modern English dun (“brownish grey colour”) + -ock (diminutive suffix) + -ie (diminutive suffix). Compare Middle English donning (“a dun horse”), English dunnock. Became more common than the original term ass due to the latter's homophony and partial merger with arse (compare similar development between coney and rabbit).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈdɒŋki/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈdɑŋki/, /ˈdɔŋki/; (rare and nonstandard) /ˈdʌŋki/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (UK): (file) - Rhymes: -ɒŋki
- Hyphenation: don‧key
Noun
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/Donkey_in_Clovelly%2C_North_Devon%2C_England.jpg/220px-Donkey_in_Clovelly%2C_North_Devon%2C_England.jpg)
donkey (plural donkeys)
- A domestic animal, Equus asinus asinus, similar to a horse.
- 1776 August 24, “[untitled]”, in Ipswich Journal[1], Ipswich, Suffolk, page 1:
- Lost last Saturday between twenty and thirty shillings they that have found it please to leave it heare there is five shillings reward by Wm. Roberts that goeth with a Donkey with many thanks
- 1785, Anonymous [Francis Grose], A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue[2], London: S. Hooper:
- DONKEY, donkey dick, a he, or jack ass, called donkey, perhaps from the Spanish, or don like gravity of that animal, entitled also the king of Spain's trumpeter
- 2013 November 17, Robert Frost, Delphi Collected Works of Robert Frost (Illustrated) (Delphi Poets Series)[3], Delphi Classics, →ISBN, →OCLC:
- I vow we must be near the place from where
The two converging slides, the avalanches,
On Marshall, look like donkey's ears.
We may as well see that and save the day.”
“Don't donkey's ears suggest we shake our own?
'For God's sake, aren't you fond of viewing nature? […]
- A stubborn person.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:stubborn person
- A fool.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:fool
- (nautical) A small auxiliary engine.
- Synonym: donkey engine
- (naval slang, dated) A box or chest, especially a toolbox.
- (poker slang) A bad poker player.
- British sea term for a sailor's storage chest.
- 1903, W. H. Hood, The Blight of Insubordination[4], page 80:
- The chest may be found among those who stick to the sailing vessels, but for the steamer, the donkey died its natural death when the Suez Canal—responsible for many changes at sea—became an accomplished fact.
Hyponyms
Derived terms
- Balkan donkey
- dead donkey
- donkey anaphora
- donkey bid
- donkey boiler
- donkey-boy
- donkey cock
- donkeycock, donkeydick
- donkey dick
- donkey drop
- donkey ears
- donkey engine
- donkey fringe
- donkey jacket
- donkey kick
- Donkey Kong
- donkey orchid
- donkey pronoun
- donkey pump
- donkey-punch
- donkey punch
- donkey rhubarb
- donkey's ears
- donkey sentence
- donkey's eye
- donkeyshit
- donkey shoe
- donkey show
- donkey stool
- donkey vote
- donkey voter
- donkey work
- donkey’s years
- heavy as a dead donkey
- hung like a donkey
- miniature donkey
- nodding donkey
- pin the tail on the donkey
- Sardinian donkey
- sea donkey
- Spanish donkey
- suck donkey balls
- suck donkey cock
- suck donkey dick
- talk the ears off a donkey
- talk the hind leg off a donkey
- talk the hind legs off a donkey
- up goes the donkey
- young donkey
Descendants
Translations
a domestic animal — see also ass
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a stubborn person
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a fool
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a small auxiliary engine
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See also
References
- (box or chest): 1930, Naval Review (London) (volume 18, page 592)
Further reading
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “donkey”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- “donkey”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
Categories:
- English terms with unknown etymologies
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms suffixed with -ock
- English terms suffixed with -ie
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɒŋki
- Rhymes:English/ɒŋki/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- en:Nautical
- English slang
- English dated terms
- en:Poker
- en:Equids
- en:People