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donkey

don·key/ˈdɑŋ.ki/noun

donkey is spelled D-O-N-K-E-Y: 6 letters and 2 syllables (don·key). It appears 4.2 times per million words in written English, the 12,578th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, donkey means “A domestic animal, Equus asinus asinus, similar to a horse” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of donkey is donkeys; Wiktionary also lists donkies (obsolete).

How many letters and syllables are in donkey?

Letters6: D-O-N-K-E-Y
Syllables2: don·key
In writing4.2 times per million words; the 12,578th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is donkey?

Donkey appears 4.2 times per million words in written English, the 12,578th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce donkey?

  • UK /ˈdɒŋ.ki/
  • US /ˈdɑŋ.ki/

Donkey has 2 syllables, split don·key in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-donkey.ogg, En-us-donkey.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with donkey?

2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as donkey from its last stressed vowel (/ɑŋki/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of donkey

  • donkeys plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does donkey mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A domestic animal, Equus asinus asinus, similar to a horse.

  2. 2

    A stubborn person.

  3. 3

    A fool.

  4. 4

    A small auxiliary engine.

  5. 5

    datedslangA box or chest, especially a toolbox.

  6. 6

    slangA bad poker player.

  7. 7

    UKA sailor's storage chest.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Donkey in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchâne (a domestic animal – see also ass)
GermanEsel, Grauchen, Grautier (a domestic animal – see also ass)
Portugueseasno, jerico, jegue, jumento, burro (a domestic animal – see also ass)
Spanishasno, burro, jumento (a domestic animal – see also ass), locomotora pequeña (a small auxiliary engine)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does donkey come from?

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), or similarly formed from the given name Duncan. Compare Middle English donning (“a dun horse”), English dunnock.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after donkey