Bray Is the Sound a Donkey Makes
To bray is to make the harsh cry of a donkey. A second, unrelated bray means to crush in a mortar.
To bray is to make the loud harsh cry of a donkey, or to laugh in a way that resembles it. A donkey's bray is a two-part sound: a drawn-in wheeze followed by a pushed-out honk, which is why it is written *hee-haw*. It carries astonishingly far — up to three kilometres across open country. A separate verb *bray* means to pound something in a mortar, from a different French root, and survives mainly in old cookery and pharmacy texts.
- A donkey's cry. *The donkey brayed.*
- A harsh laugh. *A braying laugh.*
- To crush (archaic). *Bray it in a mortar.*
- Hee-haw — the written form. *Hee-haw.*
- Old French — *braire*. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | bray | Braying. |
| Noun | bray | A bray. |
| Past | brayed | Brayed. |
| Related | hee-haw | Hee-haw. |
| Old French | braire | To cry out. |
- A donkey brayed in the field.Animal.
- His braying laugh filled the room.Figurative.
- A bray carries for miles.Fact.
Animal sounds in English
- Bray — donkey
- Neigh — horse
- Bleat — sheep and goat
- Low — cattle
- Caw — crow and rook
Old French *braire*, to cry out, probably of Celtic origin. The crushing verb is Old French *breier*.
Why is a bray written hee-haw?
Because it has two parts: an inward wheeze and an outward honk. The spelling records both halves.
Is bray meaning to crush the same word?
No. It comes from a different French verb and is now rare outside old cookery and pharmacy texts.