jackass

Etymology

It is formed from English jack + ass,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} the first element in its sense "male (of animals)".^[8][2] The second element continues Old English assa (“he-ass”).^[3] The OED notes that the Australian name of the kookaburra is apparently short for laughing jackass.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A male ass or donkey: 1727, in J. Arbuthnot's Tables of Ancient Coins.^[2][4][3] Collins dates the word to the 18th century,^[7] the Shorter Oxford to the early 18th century,^[6] and Dictionary.com to 1720–30.^[9]

Semantic evolution

For the figurative sense "stupid person" the OED compares ass used of a fool, and records it from 1756, in the Whitehall Evening-post,^[2] Etymonline from 1784, in Ignatius Sancho,^[3] and Dalzell from 1823.^[10] The OED now calls this sense chiefly North American.^[2] It fits a wider pattern of describing foolish people in terms of horses and donkeys, found in English since the late 15th century.^[11] In Australia the laughing kookaburra was called a jackass or laughing jackass from its loud, harsh cry:^[6][5] the Shorter Oxford and Hoad date this to the late 18th century,^[6][5] the OED's first record of the short form to 1844.^[2] Sailors used the word for a heavy open boat in Newfoundland (1826–37) and for a canvas bag stuffed with oakum that blocks a ship's hawseholes (from 1889).^[2] In American slang jackass brandy, or simply jackass, was strong home-made liquor,^[12][13][2] recorded from 1896 by Green^[12] and named, according to DARE, from its "kick".^[13] The verb, to fool about (jackass around), is recorded from 1927.^[2] In Somerset and the Isle of Wight dialect jackass was put before other words as a term of contempt.^[14] Popik finds the metathesis jassack in print from 1839, and suggests it may have contributed to the words jass and jazz.^[15]

Timeline

• 1727 – a male ass or donkey.^[2][4][3]
• 1756 – a foolish or stupid person.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to 1784.^[3]
• 1826 – a heavy open boat used in Newfoundland (obsolete by 1837).^[2]
• 1838 – verb, to feed a person on donkey meat (obsolete).^[2]
• 1844 – in Australia, the laughing kookaburra.^[2]
• 1855 – verb, to ride a donkey or travel in a cart drawn by one.^[2]
• 1889 – a canvas bag stuffed with oakum, used to block a ship's hawseholes.^[2]
• 1896 – jackass brandy, strong home-made liquor.^[12]
• 1927 – to jackass around, to fool about.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A male donkey: The farmer kept a jackass and two mares.^[2][4][7]
2. A stupid or foolish person; an idiot.^[2][4][7]
3. (Australia) The kookaburra, also called the laughing jackass.^{[2][4][7][16]}
4. (nautical, chiefly US) A hawse bag, a canvas bag stuffed with oakum used to plug a ship's hawseholes.^[2][4]
5. (US slang, historical) Strong home-made or illicit liquor, especially brandy or whisky.^[2][12][13]

Verb

1. (colloquial, chiefly North American) to jackass around: to fool about or waste time.^[2]

Word family

• jackassery
• jackass penguin
• laughing jackass

Related words

• ass
• jack

Usage notes

A homonym jackass, raw copal resin from the pencil tree, especially from Zanzibar, has a separate source: it is apparently Swahili chakaazi, the tree's resin, altered by folk etymology after the donkey's name.^[2] It is recorded from 1846, mostly as jackass copal, and is now historical and rare.^[2]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
11. ^ Mapping Metaphor with the Historical Thesaurus, University of Glasgow, mappingmetaphor.arts.gla.ac.uk
12. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ a b c Cassidy, Frederic G. & Joan Houston Hall (eds.) (1985–2002), Dictionary of American Regional English, vols I–IV, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
14. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
15. ^ Popik, Barry, The Big Apple, barrypopik.com, p. "Jassack [jackass]", 4 July 2019
16. ^ Moore, Bruce, ed. (2004), The Australian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd ed., Melbourne: Oxford University Press