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heehaw

heehaw

7.9
A loud harsh sound that a donkey makes
  • noun
  • /ˈhiˌhɔ/
translation icon : rebuzno
  • The donkey let out a loud heehaw that echoed across the field.

Examples

  • "It wasn't quite a squeak, but it was a very good heehaw, and you did try."

    Fiction book (1999)
  • The children laughed when they heard the donkey's funny heehaw in the farmyard.

  • When the donkey saw the other animals, it responded with a cheerful heehaw.

Synonyms

bray
vsheehaw
5 7.8

A loud harsh cry made by a donkey

is the donkey's specific loud sound rather than a general harsh cry

How Loud

bellow
20 4.6
heehaw
7.9
bleat
5 6.0
chirp
18 1.6
peep
14 1.0

Surface Forms

heehaw singular
heehaws plural

Morphology

heehaw = hee + haw (transparent) = hee + haw

This sense names the braying sound itself and is directly onomatopoeic, so the compound's components transparently indicate the meaning.

Etymology

Heehaw is an imitation of a donkey's loud 'bray' and sounds like 'hee-haw'. So a heehaw is the harsh, braying sound a donkey makes.