Other forms: donkeys
A donkey is a grey animal like a small horse with long ears. Ride a donkey, a stubborn donkey, donkeys on the beach.
The stubbornness is a misreading of good sense, since a donkey that will not move has usually judged something unsafe. Donkey's years means a very long time, and it is a pun on the length of the ears.
1noundonkeyA grey animal like a small horse with long ears.
“The children rode donkeys along the beach.”
donkey is an animal.
Of unknown origin, first recorded as slang in the late eighteenth century.
Middle English
*donekie — a miniature dun horse
English, today
donkey
The origin is unknown. 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, equivalent to modern English dun (“brownish grey colour”) + -ock + -ie, or similarly formed from the given name Duncan. 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).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA