donkey work

English

Alternative forms

• donkey-work, donkeywork

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

donkey work (uncountable)

1. (idiomatic) Hard, boring, routine work.

   Why does everyone else get the interesting work while I have to do all the donkey work?

   • 2019, Bernardine Evaristo, Girl, Woman, Other, Penguin Books (2020), page 161:

     Labi said she did not need to carry planks of wood on her head any more, it was donkey work for idiots

   • 2022, The Atlantic:

     But what looks like donkeywork is a necessary step in a formulaic approach, a set of prescribed practices that have their own embedded wisdom.

Translations

hard, boring, routine work

• Czech: mravenčí práce
• Greek: αγγαρεία (el) f (angareía)
• Irish: sclábhaíocht f
• Manx: tooilleil f
• Persian: خرکاری (fa)
• Polish: robota głupiego (pl) f, czarna robota f
• Turkish: angarya (tr)

See also

• God's work
• grunt work