Bray is the loud, harsh sound a donkey makes. When a donkey brays, it produces that distinctive “hee-haw” noise that sounds almost like a rusty gate mixed with a trumpet: rough, nasal, and impossible to ignore. If you've ever heard a donkey at a petting zoo or farm, you know exactly what braying sounds like.

It captures the jarring quality of the sound. Unlike a horse's whinny or a cow's moo, a donkey's bray is attention-getting and can carry across surprisingly long distances.

People sometimes use bray to describe human laughter that sounds similarly harsh and unpleasant. If someone has a “braying laugh,” it means their laughter is loud, grating, and lacks musicality. You might read in a story that “the villain brayed with cruel laughter” to show that the character's laugh was as unpleasant as their personality.

As a noun, a bray is the sound itself.