zonkey, n.

zonkey
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zonkey_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1986; not fully revised

# zonkeynoun

## Earlier version

- zonkey in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zonkey mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zonkey. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

#### Entry status

OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.

### How common is the noun zonkey?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1950 | 0.00005
1960 | 0.00007
1970 | 0.0001
1980 | 0.0002
1990 | 0.0002
2000 | 0.0003
2010 | 0.0004

### How is the noun zonkey pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɒŋki/
ZONG-kee

### Where does the noun zonkey come from?

Earliest known use

1950s

The earliest known use of the noun zonkey is in the 1950s.

OED's earliest evidence for zonkey is from 1953, in New York Herald Tribune.

zonkey is formed within English, by blending.

Etymons: zebra n., donkey n.

### Nearby entries

1. zone therapy, n. 1915–
2. zone time, n. 1908–
3. Zonian, n. 1910–
4. zonic, adj. 1797–
5. zoning, n. a1821–
6. zonite, n. 1860–
7. zonitic, adj. 1888–
8. zonk, v. 1950–
9. zonk, int. 1949–
10. zonked, adj. 1959–
11. zonkey, n.1953–
12. zonking, adj. 1958–
13. zonky, adj. 1972–
14. zono-, comb. form
15. zonochlorite, n. 1872–
16. zonociliate, adj. 1885–
17. zonoplacental, adj. 1879–
18. zonular, adj. 1835–
19. zonule, n. 1828–
20. zonulet, n. 1648
21. zonure, n. 1883–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by blending.
Etymons: zebra n., donkey n.
Blend of z- (in zebra n.) and ‑onkey (in donkey n.).

## Meaning & use

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
   1. zebrule 1899–
      The hybrid offspring of a male zebra and a female equine; esp. a zedonk (see zedonk, n.).
   2. zonkey 1953–
      The offspring of a zebra and a donkey. Cf. zedonk, n.
   3. zedonk 1961–
      The hybrid offspring of a zebra and a donkey. Cf. zebrule, n., zonkey, n.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɒŋki/
ZONG-kee

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.

##### Consonants

b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values

- gguy
- jjay
- yyore
- chchore
- khloch
- shshore
- ththaw
- dhthee
- zhbeige

##### Vowels

- atrap
- ahpalm
- airsquare
- arstart
- arrcarry (British only)
- awthought
- ayface
- a(ng)gratin
- edress
- eefleece
- eerdeer
- errmerry
- ikit
- ighpride
- irrmirror
- olot (British only)
- ohgoat
- oogoose
- oorcure
- orforce
- orrsorry (British only)
- owmouth
- oyvoice
- o(ng)salon
- ustrut
- uhletter
- urnurse
- urrhurry
- uufoot

## Frequency

zonkey typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zonkey is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands

Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zonkey, n., 1950–2010

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.

The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.

For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.

Decade | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
1950 | 0.00005
1960 | 0.00007
1970 | 0.0001
1980 | 0.0002
1990 | 0.0002
2000 | 0.0003
2010 | 0.0004

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

zonkey, n. was last modified in December 2024.