Dull, routine, physically demanding labor without skill or prestige; grunt work or tedious tasks.
Compound word from 'donkey' and 'work,' suggesting work that is repetitive and without much intellectual demand, like work a donkey might do—carrying heavy loads without question. This reflects how draft animals were viewed as doing mindless labor.
Before computers, office jobs involved tons of 'donkeywork'—filing, copying, organizing—and offices had entire departments of people doing nothing but these tedious tasks, which is why automation so dramatically changed the job market in the late 1900s.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.