donkey
pronunciation
How to pronounce donkey in British English:
UK [ˈdɒŋki]
How to pronounce donkey in American English:
US [ˈdɑːŋki]
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- Noun:
- the symbol of the Democratic Party; introduced in cartoons by Thomas Nast in 1874
- domestic beast of burden descended from the African wild ass; patient but stubborn
Word Origin
- donkey
- donkey: [18] The usual English word for ‘donkey’ from Anglo-Saxon times was ass, and donkey is not recorded until Francis Grose entered it in his Dictionary of the vulgar tonge 1785; ‘Donkey or Donkey Dick, a he or Jackass’. No one really knows where it came from. The usual explanation offered is that it was based on dun ‘brownish grey’ and the diminutive suffix -ey, with the intermediate k added in imitation of monkey (donkey originally rhymed with monkey).=> dun
- donkey (n.)
- 1785, originally slang, perhaps a diminutive from dun "dull gray-brown," the form perhaps influenced by monkey. Or possibly from a familiar form of Duncan (compare dobbin). The older English word was ass (n.1).
Example
- 1. A donkey is one of the few things they own .
- 2. One day a farmer 's donkey fell down into a well .
- 3. You must move your donkey , the policeman said .
- 4. Yao did and barkley kissed a donkey 's rear end .
- 5. This may 9 , 2007 , photo shows the donkey and wolf together .