donkey's

noun

"donkey-s" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“donkey's” is uncommon English (frequency #92,545 among 3,470 “D” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#92,545
frequency rank, English
3,470
“D” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A long time.

Corpus desk

Index EN-donkey-s · donkey's · English

donkey's · rank #92,545 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #92,545
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,470
  • PHOTO-FINISH dolman

Nearest frequency peer: dolman (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “donkey's”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “donkey's” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for donkey's
PropertyValue
Headworddonkey's
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters8
Frequency rank#92,545
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “donkey's” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).donkey'sfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “dolman” (#92,544), “Dolezal” (#92,543), “doeth” (#92,542). Among 3,470 “D” headwords, “donkey's” is #92,545. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

donkey's is uncommon English at frequency #92,545 among 3,470 “D” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A long time.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for donkey's, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Etymologically, the entry records: Reduced form of donkey's years. The correct English form is donkey's, spelled D-O-N-K-E-Y-'-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    A long time.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how donkey's appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. I knew Bogs, like, that's how I got this job, knew him for donkey's, but didny work for him.
  2. 'Known her for donkey's. Why –got your eye on her?'

Etymology

Reduced form of donkey's years.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "donkey's"?
"donkey's" is spelled D-O-N-K-E-Y-'-S.
What does "donkey's" mean?
As a noun, "donkey's" means: A long time.
What is the origin of the word "donkey's"?
Reduced form of donkey's years. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "donkey's", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list