Donkey Emoji

A donkey shown in full profile, typically gray with distinctive upright ears and sometimes depicted with its hind legs kicking. This emoji arrived in Emoji 15.0 (2022), filling a gap that had political implications: Republicans had the elephant emoji since 2015, but Democrats had to wait seven years for their party's mascot animal. The Unicode proposal (L2/21-196) explicitly cited the political imbalance as a reason for approval, alongside the fact that the donkey was the only member of the Equus genus missing from emoji (horse and zebra were already there).

Beyond politics, the donkey emoji carries a rich web of meanings. It represents stubbornness, hard work, and humility. It's used as a stand-in for calling someone a 'jackass' without typing the word. It references Donkey from Shrek (Eddie Murphy's iconic performance), Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh, and the classic party game Pin the Tail on the Donkey. In drug slang, 'mule' refers to someone who carries contraband across borders, giving this emoji an entirely different context in certain conversations.

The donkey has deep religious significance too. In Christianity, Jesus entered Jerusalem riding a donkey, symbolizing peace and humility. In Islam, the Prophet Muhammad's donkey Ya'fur was said to have the power of speech. These ancient associations make the donkey one of the most symbolically loaded animals in human history, and now it has its own emoji.

The donkey emoji lives a double life on social media. During US election cycles, it surges as a Democratic Party identifier alongside blue wave emojis and American flag combinations. Between elections, it's primarily a Shrek reference tool and a way to call someone stubborn without actually typing the word 'jackass.' On TikTok, it appears in farm life content, Shrek lip-sync videos, and increasingly in animal welfare content highlighting the global donkey population crisis. The British slang usage of 'donkey work' (boring, tedious labor) makes it popular in UK-based workplace humor.

This emoji has zero romantic energy. It's either political, humorous, or insulting. If someone sends you a donkey emoji while flirting, they're either making a Shrek joke or calling you stubborn, neither of which is a love letter.

• •In political posts = Democratic Party identifier
• •In casual conversation = calling someone stubborn or a jackass
• •In a quote format = probably referencing Shrek's Donkey

The donkey emoji was approved as part of Unicode 15.0 in September 2022, based on proposal L2/21-196 filed in 2021. The proposal made three key arguments: First, the donkey was the only member of the Equus genus (horses, zebras, donkeys) without an emoji. Second, with the Republican elephant already in emoji since 2015, the absence of a Democratic donkey created a political imbalance. Third, donkey-related metaphors (stubborn, hardworking, jackass) were common enough to justify a dedicated character. The name 'donkey' itself has an interesting etymology: it entered English in the late 1700s specifically because 'ass' had become too vulgar due to its overlap with the word for buttocks. The first known use in print was in a 1785 slang dictionary.

1. 2021Donkey emoji proposed to Unicode (L2/21-196), citing political balance, genus completeness, and metaphorical usage
2. 2022Approved as part of Unicode 15.0 and Emoji 15.0, finally giving Democrats a party mascot emoji
3. 2023Rolled out across major platforms including Apple iOS 16.4, Google Android 13.1, and Samsung One UI 5.1
4. 2024First US presidential election with the donkey emoji available, widely used in political social media posts

The donkey's cultural meaning varies wildly. In the US, it's inseparable from Democratic Party politics, thanks to Andrew Jackson embracing the 'jackass' insult in 1828 and Thomas Nast's cartoons in the 1870s. In Spain and Mexico, the burro is a beloved symbol of rural heritage: Spain's Catalan donkey is a regional identity symbol rivaling the Spanish bull, and Mexico hosts an annual Donkey Festival in Otumba with donkey polo and a Miss Burro pageant. In the Middle East, the donkey carries profound religious weight from both Christian and Islamic traditions. In China, the donkey population has collapsed 76% since 1992 due to demand for ejiao (donkey-hide gelatin used in traditional medicine), making donkey conservation a contentious issue. In English-speaking countries, 'donkey' and 'ass' are common insults meaning stupid or stubborn, while in many developing nations, the donkey remains an essential working animal for 500 million people worldwide.

• •Democrats waited seven years for their party mascot emoji. The elephant was available since Emoji 1.0 in 2015, but the donkey didn't arrive until Emoji 15.0 in 2022.
• •The word 'donkey' only entered English in 1785 because 'ass' had become too vulgar. It first appeared in a slang dictionary called the Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.
• •Donkey Kong wasn't a mistranslation. Miyamoto intentionally chose 'Donkey' because he thought it meant 'stupid' in English. When corrected, he kept the name because he liked how it sounded.
• •There are approximately 50 million donkeys worldwide, but populations are crashing. China's donkey population dropped from 11 million to 3 million due to demand for ejiao (donkey-hide gelatin).
• •Pin the Tail on the Donkey originated around 1886 in Milwaukee as an adult parlor game before becoming a children's birthday staple. It was originally called the 'Donkey Party.'
• •Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh exhibits five clinical symptoms of major depressive disorder, making him one of fiction's most psychologically analyzed donkeys.
• •In Mexico, the town of Otumba hosts an annual Donkey Festival with donkey polo, donkey races, and a Miss Burro beauty pageant. The event has run for over 40 years.
• •Andrew Jackson's opponents called him a jackass in 1828. Instead of being offended, he put the donkey on his campaign posters, accidentally creating one of America's most enduring political symbols.
• •Shakespeare popularized using 'ass' as an insult in the 1590s-1600s. Bottom being transformed into a donkey-headed creature in A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of theater's most iconic comic moments.
• •The Catalan donkey (el ruc catala) became a symbol of Catalan identity in Spain, directly competing with the Spanish bull. You'll see donkey bumper stickers across Catalonia as a regional pride statement.

• •Assuming it's always political. Most donkey emoji usage has nothing to do with the Democratic Party. It's used for Shrek references, stubbornness, and actual donkeys far more often.
• •Reading it as purely an insult. While 'jackass' is a donkey-derived insult, the emoji also represents positive qualities like hard work, humility, and perseverance.
• •Thinking it represents a horse. Donkeys and horses are different species. The donkey has longer ears, a different build, and very different cultural associations.
• •Missing the drug slang meaning. In some contexts, 'mule' (a donkey hybrid) refers to drug smuggling. This isn't the most common usage but it exists.

• •Shrek franchise (2001-2027): Eddie Murphy's Donkey is one of animation's most beloved sidekicks. The 'Are we there yet?' scene from Shrek 2 became a legendary meme. Shrek 5 is confirmed for 2027 with Murphy returning.
• •Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh (1926-present): A.A. Milne's perpetually gloomy donkey has become shorthand for depression and pessimism. Psychologists note Eeyore exhibits five symptoms of major depressive disorder.
• •Donkey Kong (1981-present): Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto chose 'Donkey' to mean 'stupid' in Japanese, creating one of gaming's most iconic characters and a name that confused English speakers for decades.
• •Andrew Jackson's 1828 presidential campaign: When opponents called him a jackass, Jackson put the donkey on his campaign posters, accidentally creating what would become the Democratic Party's unofficial mascot.
• •Pin the Tail on the Donkey: Originating in Milwaukee around 1886, this blindfolded party game remains a staple of children's birthday parties over 140 years later.

• •Single codepoint at U+1FACF. JavaScript .length returns 2 (surrogate pair). Use Array.from('🫏').length for grapheme count.
• •Added in Unicode 15.0 (2022). Older systems and browsers may not render it. Always provide a text fallback for accessibility.
• •The donkey emoji does not have any ZWJ variants or skin tone modifiers. It's a standalone character.
• •When building political emoji pickers or sentiment analysis, pair detection of 🫏 with 🐘 and 🗳️ to identify political context.
• •Emoji 15.0 support: iOS 16.4+, Android 13.1+, Windows 11 22H2+. Test rendering on your target platforms.
• •For political sentiment analysis, build a mapping: 🫏=Democrat, 🐘=Republican, 🌊=blue wave, 🔴=red state. This captures emoji-based political expression in social media data.
• •The donkey emoji renders quite differently across platforms. Apple shows a detailed gray donkey; Google shows a cartoony brown version. Verify cross-platform rendering for consistent UI.

See the full Emoji Developer Tools guide for regex patterns, encoding helpers, and more.