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).
实用例句
1. He gave the donkey a whack across the back with his stick.
他拿棍子朝驴背上狠狠打了一下。来自柯林斯例句
2. He gave the donkey a mighty prod in the backside.
他用力捅了一下驴屁股。来自柯林斯例句
3. He threw the old cloth saddle across the donkey's back.
他把旧布鞍搭在驴背上。来自柯林斯例句
4. The donkey brayed and tried to bolt.
这头驴嘶叫着试图脱缰而逃。来自柯林斯例句
5. A mule is a hybrid of a male donkey and a female horse.
