zonkeyhttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/zonkey_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_usezonkey, n.
First published 1986; not fully revised

zonkeynoun

  1. 1953–
    The offspring of a zebra and a donkey. Cf. zedonk n.
    1. 1953
      Mr. [Gene] Holter explained that a zonkey was half zebra and half donkey, a combination the zoomen had never seen.
      New York Herald Tribune 2 September 1/7
    2. 1953
      Zonkey is not exactly a scientific name and I'm no scientist’ Mr. Holter said, ‘But I don't know what else you would call it.’
      New York Herald Tribune 2 September 1/7
    3. 1973
      A zebra and a donkey are expecting an offspring next March, Brooklyn's Prospect Park Zoo authorities say. It will be New York's first zonkey, though. The others were born in western zoos.
      Indian Express 29 October 6/8
    4. 1983
      Melancholy exemplars abound: a male camel who recently injured a foreleg;..and a morose-looking zonkey— the mother a zebra, the father a donkey.
      New York Times 6 March x. 53/4

zonkey, n. was first published in 1986; not fully revised.

zonkey, n. was last modified in December 2024.