Why Do Donkeys and Your Backside Share a Word? | Smartest Year Ever (Apr 11, 2025)
About this episode
Why do donkeys and your backside share the same word? It’s not what you think.
In today’s episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy unpacks the linguistic mix-up that gave us the same word for both a pack animal and your posterior. Spoiler: it has nothing to do with donkeys being stubborn.
The term for a donkey comes from Latin asinus, while the word for your rear end traces back to Old English ærs, which became arse, and later the modern American version we all know—just spelled the same as the animal.
So, two meanings, two histories, and one awkward overlap. Blame the evolution of English, not the donkey.
Sources:
Oxford English Dictionary. (n.d.). Ass (animal) and arse. Oxford University Press.
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Ass and arse. Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary.
Harper, D. (n.d.). Ass and arse. Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com
Hashtags: #LanguageFacts #Etymology #Donkeys #SmartestYearEver #WordNerd #HistoryOfWords Music thanks to Zapsplat.
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