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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Chiefly British The letter z.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. The letter Z, also called zee and sometimes izzard.
  2. n. A metal bar rolled so as to have a cross-section resembling the letter Z.

Wiktionary

  1. n. The name of the Latin script letter [[Z#|Z]]/[[z#|z]].
  2. n. Something Z-shaped. Found in compounds such as zed-bar.
  3. v. To sleep or nap. (Compare zzz, catch some z's.)
  4. v. To zigzag; to move with sharp alternating turns.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. The letter z; -- called also zee, and formerly izzard.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. the 26th letter of the Roman alphabet

Etymologies

  1. Middle English, from Old French zede, from Late Latin zēta, zeta, from Greek; see zeta.

Examples

  • “Right here in Canada, Molson struck gold when Joe Canadian proclaimed that not only is the beaver a noble creature, it's pronounced "zed;" not "zee" - "zed.”

    Craig and Marc Kielburger: Everything in Moderation

  • “Or maybe "zed," depending on what part of the world you're in.”

    Patt Morrison: Blackwater: A Smell by Any Other Name?

  • “Not to mention their aversion to the letter z, pronounced "zed" in most British dialects and the general accent.”

    British-English Dictionary

  • “And I don't know if I'll ever remember to say "zed".”

    Archive 2008-03-01

  • “Best of luck with your job search and mini's arrival! ps - oh, and we do say "zed" not "zee" ... you will get chuckles from students if you say "zee".”

    willing to move North

  • “Get to the last letter and most of the room is saying "zed" while the dirty Americans on the far side of the room are sticking with "zee.”

    D is for Dirty, That's Good Enough for Me

  • “If your ancestor's name began with "zed," you might have to wait until 2008.”

    Archive 2007-02-01

  • “The hardest one for me is remembering to call the letter z "zed".”

    favour

  • “It might be a pretty difficult shift though -- do you ever see Z and think "zed"?”

    goal

  • “Part of my job is transcribing tapes, and when lawyers spell proper names, I'm always surprised to hear "zed".”

    goal

Show 10 more examples...

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘zed’.

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‘zed’ has been looked up 4277 times, added to 17 lists, commented on 4 times, and has a Scrabble score of 13.