Z

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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See also: z [U+007A LATIN SMALL LETTER Z], ʒ [U+0292 LATIN SMALL LETTER EZH], Ζ [U+0396 GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ZETA], ℤ [U+2124 DOUBLE-STRUCK CAPITAL Z], 乙 [U+4E59 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4E59], ㆸ [U+31B8 BOPOMOFO LETTER GH], and Appendix:Variations of "z"

Z U+005A, Z
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Z
← Y
[U+0059] 		Basic Latin [ →
[U+005B]
Ｚ U+FF3A, Ｚ
FULLWIDTH LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Z
← Ｙ
[U+FF39] 		Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms ［ →
[U+FF3B]

Translingual[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology[edit]

From the Etruscan letter 𐌆 (z, “ze”), from the Ancient Greek letter Ζ (Z, “zeta”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤆‎ (z, “zayin”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓏭.

Letter[edit]

Z (lower case z)

  1. The twenty-sixth and final letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.

See also[edit]

Symbol[edit]

Z

  1. (metrology) zetta-
  2. (physics) the impedance of an electrical circuit
  3. (physics, computer graphics) the depth dimension in a 3D environment
  4. (physics) atomic number
  5. (biochemistry) IUPAC 1-letter abbreviation for either aspargine or aspartic acid

Derived terms[edit]

Base SI units derived from the prefix meaning zetta-
Derived SI units derived from the prefix meaning zetta-

Gallery[edit]

  • Letter styles
  • Uppercase and lowercase versions of Z, in normal and italic type

    Uppercase and lowercase versions of Z, in normal and italic type

  • Uppercase and lowercase Z in Fraktur

    Uppercase and lowercase Z in Fraktur

See also[edit]

Other representations of Z:

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Letter[edit]

Z (upper case, lower case z, plural Zs or Z's)

  1. The twenty-sixth letter of the English alphabet, called zed or zee and written in the Latin script.

Derived terms[edit]

See also[edit]

Noun[edit]

Z (plural Z's or Zs)

  1. A member of Generation Z.
    Alternative form: Zed
    Synonyms: Generation Z, Generation Zer, Gen Z, Gen-Zer, zoomer
    • 2017, Martha M. Ellis; Linda Garcia, Generation X Presidents Leading Community Colleges: New Challenges, New Leaders, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 10:
      Take that a step further for Millennials and Zs by crafting an e-mail subject header that does the same but with even fewer characters; […]
    • 2020, Zerlina Maxwell, The End of White Politics: How to Heal Our Liberal Divide, New York, N.Y.: Hachette Books, →ISBN:
      The current progressive movement—and certainly the Millennials and Zs—understand that the Hyde Amendment is discriminatory […]
    • 2022, Morgen Witzel, editor, Post-Pandemic Leadership: Exploring Solutions to a Crisis, Routledge, →ISBN:
      The current global pandemic is almost certainly a formative moment for younger Millennials and Zs as they navigate through similar challenges.
  2. (slang) Z-drug.
    • 2013, Snap Capone (lyrics and music), “Lights Out”, in The Memoir‎[1], from 0:16:
      I can sell bricks, I don't need to rap
      Buj so peng it makes the fiends collapse
      Cook that coca into crack
      I was selling Zs while you was in your bed

Afrikaans[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (letter name): IPA(key): /zɛt/

Letter[edit]

Z (upper case, lower case z)

  1. The twenty-sixth letter of the Afrikaans alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also[edit]

Noun[edit]

Z (plural Z's, diminutive Z'tjie)

  1. Z

Albanian[edit]

A user suggests that this Albanian entry be cleaned up, giving the reason: “Arvanitic is a dialect, not the name of the letter. The Greek letter does not belong here as it is a different Unicode symbol. It should be checked whether similar problems exist in other Albanian letter entries.”
Please see the discussion on Requests for cleanup(+) or the talk page for more information and remove this template after the problem has been dealt with.

Pronunciation[edit]

Letter[edit]

Z (lower case z)

  1. The thirty-fifth letter of the Albanian alphabet, written in the Latin script.
  2. The thirty-seventh letter of the Albanian alphabet, called Arbëreshë, Arvanitic, or Arvanitika and written in the Latin script. Z, z
  3. The 10th letter of the Albanian alphabet, called Arvanitic or Arvanitika and written in the Greek script. Ζ, ζ

See also[edit]

Azerbaijani[edit]

Letter[edit]

Z upper case (lower case z)

  1. The thirty-second letter of the Azerbaijani alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also[edit]

Basque[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /s̻eta/, [s̻e̞.t̪a]

Letter[edit]

Z (upper case, lower case z)

  1. The twenty-seventh letter of the Basque alphabet, called zeta and written in the Latin script.

See also[edit]

Central Franconian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

  • /ts/ is from West Germanic stem-initial, geminated or post-sonorant *t.
  • For the origin of /z/, see S.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (German-based) /ts/
  • (Dutch-based) /z/

Letter[edit]

Z

  1. A letter in the German-based alphabet of Central Franconian.
  2. A letter in the Dutch-based alphabet of Central Franconian.

Usage notes[edit]

  • /ts/ may also be represented by ts, tts, ds, dds, mostly when there is an intervening morpheme boundary.
  • In the Dutch-based spelling, /ts/ is always represented by ts (or ds). In the German-based spelling, /z/ is represented by s (see there).
Doubling of Z and use in the syllable coda
  • In the German-based spelling, doubling of z yields tz, which is used after short vowels. (As z is already a voiceless sound there is no change in coda position.)
  • In the Dutch-based spelling, z is doubled after short vowels if the syllable were otherwise open. Coda z is automatically replaced with s.

Chinese[edit]

Wikipedia has an article on:

Etymology 1[edit]

Derived from 直 (zhí, “straight”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Symbol[edit]

Z

  1. (Mainland China) A shorthand used to refer to direct express trains.

Etymology 2[edit]

Pronunciation 1[edit]

Note: Often realised as 1ze.
Letter[edit]

Z

  1. The twenty-sixth and last letter of the Latin alphabet.

Pronunciation 2[edit]

Letter[edit]

Z

  1. The twenty-sixth and last letter used in Pinyin.
Usage notes[edit]
  • 《汉语拼音方案》 defines a standard pronunciation for each letter. However, these pronunciations are rarely used in education; another pronunciation is commonly used instead.
  • The pronunciation above are only used while referring to letters in Pinyin. They are not used in other context (such as English).

Dutch[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Letter[edit]

Z (capital, lowercase z)

  1. The twenty-sixth and last letter of the Dutch alphabet.

Adverb[edit]

Z

  1. Abbreviation of zuid; south

See also[edit]

  • Previous letter: Y

Esperanto[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Letter[edit]

Z (upper case, lower case z)

  1. The twenty-eighth letter of the Esperanto alphabet, called zo and written in the Latin script.

See also[edit]

Estonian[edit]

Estonian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia et

Letter[edit]

Z (upper case, lower case z)

  1. The twenty-first letter of the Estonian alphabet, called tsett and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes[edit]

  • Used only in loanwords.

See also[edit]

Finnish[edit]

Letter[edit]

Z (upper case, lower case z)

  1. The twenty-fifth letter of the Finnish alphabet, called tseta or tset and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes[edit]

  • Used only in loanwords. In more established loanwords replaced with ts.

See also[edit]

German[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Letter[edit]

Z (upper case, lower case z)

  1. The twenty-sixth and last letter of the German alphabet.

Usage notes[edit]

  • Doubling of z generally yields tz, but zz is retained in loanwords (chiefly from Italian).
  • In German handwriting, the letter Z very often receives an additional stroke in the middle: Ƶ. A lack of this stroke may even make the letter look "incomplete" to a great deal of language users. However, the corresponding grapheme Ƶ is virtually never used in printing.

Hungarian[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (phoneme): IPA(key): [ˈz]
  • (letter name): IPA(key): [ˈzeː]

Letter[edit]

Z (upper case, lower case z)

  1. The thirty-ninth letter of the Hungarian alphabet, called zé and written in the Latin script.

Declension[edit]

Inflection (stem in long/high vowel, front unrounded harmony)
singular plural
nominative Z Z-k
accusative Z-t Z-ket
dative Z-nek Z-knek
instrumental Z-vel Z-kkel
causal-final Z-ért Z-kért
translative Z-vé Z-kké
terminative Z-ig Z-kig
essive-formal Z-ként Z-kként
essive-modal — —
inessive Z-ben Z-kben
superessive Z-n Z-ken
adessive Z-nél Z-knél
illative Z-be Z-kbe
sublative Z-re Z-kre
allative Z-hez Z-khez
elative Z-ből Z-kből
delative Z-ről Z-kről
ablative Z-től Z-ktől
non-attributive
possessive - singular 		Z-é Z-ké
non-attributive
possessive - plural 		Z-éi Z-kéi
Possessive forms of Z
possessor single possession multiple possessions
1st person sing. Z-m Z-im
2nd person sing. Z-d Z-id
3rd person sing. Z-je Z-i
1st person plural Z-nk Z-ink
2nd person plural Z-tek Z-itek
3rd person plural Z-jük Z-ik

See also[edit]

Ido[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Letter[edit]

Z (lower case z)

  1. The twenty-sixth letter of the Ido alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also[edit]

Italian[edit]

Italian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia it

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (letter name) IPA(key): */ˈd͡zɛ.ta/, */ˈd͡ze.ta/[1]
  • (phonemic realization) IPA(key): */t͡s/*, */d͡z/*
    • Z is spelt single stem-initially and after consonants. The pronunciation is not predictable and may be /t͡s/ or /d͡z/, though after -l- and -r- it is mostly /t͡s/. It is also spelt single post-vocalically before [j], where the pronunciation is mostly /tt͡s/.
    • Between true vowels it is usually doubled as zz. The pronunciation, again, is not predictable and may be /tt͡s/ or /dd͡z/. Chiefly in learned words it may be spelt single, in which case it is predominantly /dd͡z/.

Letter[edit]

Z f or m (invariable, upper case, lower case z)

  1. The twenty-first letter of the Italian alphabet, called zeta and written in the Latin script.

Symbol[edit]

Z

  1. the letter zeta in the Greek alphabet

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Z in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Latin[edit]

Etymology[edit]

The letter descended from the Old Italic letter 𐌆 (z) in the Old Latin period, but had long fell into native disuse by the Classical period, when it came back into use, transcribing the Ancient Greek letter Ζ (Z, “zeta”), which had formerly been transcribed S in initial position and SS in medial position. In writings of the Late Latin period, Z frequently takes the place of S and in the third and fourth centuries often represented word-initial prevocalic di.

Pronunciation[edit]

Letter[edit]

Z (upper case, lower case z)

  1. The twenty-third letter of the Classical Latin alphabet, called zēta.

References[edit]

  • “Z, z”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • Z in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 1,700/1
  • “Z, z” on page 2,125/1 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)

Latvian[edit]

Latvian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia lv

Etymology[edit]

Proposed in 1908 as part of the new Latvian spelling by the scientific commission headed by K. Mīlenbahs, which was accepted and began to be taught in schools in 1909. Prior to that, Latvian had been written in German Fraktur, and sporadically in Cyrillic.

Pronunciation[edit]

This entry needs audio files. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record some and upload them. (For audio required quickly, visit WT:APR.)

Letter[edit]

Z

Z (upper case, lower case z)

  1. The thirty-second letter of the Latvian alphabet, called zē and written in the Latin script.

See also[edit]

Lower Sorbian[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Letter[edit]

Z (lower case z)

  1. The thirty-second letter of the Lower Sorbian alphabet, called zet and written in the Latin script.

See also[edit]

Malay[edit]

Malay Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia ms

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (Name of letter) IPA(key): [zɛt̚], [zɛk̚], [zi]
  • (Phoneme, Syllable initial) IPA(key): [z]
  • (Phoneme, Syllable final) IPA(key): [s]

Letter[edit]

Z (upper case, lower case z)

  1. The twenty-sixth letter of the Malay alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also[edit]

Norwegian[edit]

Letter[edit]

Z (upper case Z, lower case z)

  1. the 29th letter of the Norwegian alphabet

Usage notes[edit]

Only in loan words and foreign names. Also used in old inscriptions and texts instead of s.

Nupe[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Letter[edit]

Z (upper case, lower case z)

  1. The twenty-ninth letter of the Nupe alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also[edit]

Polish[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Letter[edit]

Z (upper case, lower case z)

  1. The thirtieth letter of the Polish alphabet, called zet and written in the Latin script.

See also[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • Z in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • Z in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese[edit]

Letter[edit]

Z (upper case, lower case z)

  1. The twenty-sixth letter of the Portuguese alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also[edit]

Romani[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Letter[edit]

Z (upper case, lower case z)

  1. (International Standard) The thirtieth letter of the Romani alphabet, written in the Latin script.
  2. (Pan-Vlax) The thirty-first letter of the Romani alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also[edit]

Romanian[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Letter[edit]

Z (upper case, lower case z)

  1. The thirty-first letter of the Romanian alphabet, called ze, zet, zed, or zî and written in the Latin script.

See also[edit]

Russian[edit]

The Z symbol used by the Russian military.
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology[edit]

Derived from запад (zapad, “west”). The Z sign was initially used for vehicles targeted towards southeastern Ukraine, in a manner similar to invasion stripes used by the Allies in World War II. Later popularised by the Russian government on social media as a rallying symbol.

Pronunciation[edit]

Symbol[edit]

Z (lower case z)

  1. the Roman letter Z, z
    Synonym: зет (zɛt)
  3. (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:) (politics) A symbol representing support for the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
    Synonyms: (derogatory) полусва́стика (polusvástika), (derogatory) но́вая сва́стика (nóvaja svástika), (derogatory) зва́стика (zvástika)
    • #ZаМир, #ZаПобеду (hashtags using Z by Russian nationalists in support for war against Ukraine)
      #ZaMir, #ZaPobedu
      "for peace", "for victory"
    • ZOV (a symbol combining V and O, more symbols used on Russian tanks, used by the Russian government and some online users in support for war against Ukraine)
      ZOV (may also be interpreted as зов, or "call forth [to war]")
    • Zалупа, роZZия, zвери, Zло, Zомби (derisive online slang terms mocking Russian nationalists)
      Zalupa, roZZija, zveri, Zlo, Zombi
      "dickhead", "RuZZia", "beaZts", "evil", "Zombie"

Usage notes[edit]

Russian nationalists replace instances of the Cyrillic letter З (Z) with Z in some words and usernames, and their opponents also use Latin Z's in Russian words to mock them.

Related terms[edit]

  • зиговать (zigovatʹ, “to use a Nazi salute”), zиговать (zigovatʹ, “to support the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine”)
  • zомби (zombi, “a zombie, a fanatical Russian nationalist who supports the invasion of Ukraine”)
  • РоZZия (RoZZija, “RuZZia, Russia as the aggressor during the invasion of Ukraine”)

Descendants[edit]

  • ⇒ English: zwastika (internet slang, usage of Z by Russian nationalists)
  • ⇒ English: Ruzzia (internet slang, Russia being militarised during the 2022 invasion of Ukraine)
  • ⇒ Ukrainian: Z (a symbol used by Ukrainians to mock Russia)

See also[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Saanich[edit]

Letter[edit]

Z

  1. The thirty-eighth letter of the Saanich alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also[edit]

Skolt Sami[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Letter[edit]

Z (lower case z)

  1. The thirty-third letter of the Skolt Sami alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also[edit]

Slovene[edit]

Slovene Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sl

Letter[edit]

Z (capital, lowercase z)

  1. The 24th letter of the Slovene alphabet. Preceded by V and followed by Ž.

Spanish[edit]

Letter[edit]

Z (upper case, lower case z)

  1. the 27th letter of the Spanish alphabet

Turkish[edit]

Letter[edit]

Z (upper case, lower case z)

  1. The twenty-ninth letter of the Turkish alphabet, called ze and written in the Latin script.

See also[edit]

Ukrainian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Originated from Russian usage of the letter Z as a military symbol, as well as a symbol of support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine (see Z#Etymology_5).

Pronunciation[edit]

Symbol[edit]

Z (lower case z)

  1. the Roman letter Z, z
    Synonym: зет (zet)
  2. (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:) (politics) a dogwhistle for supporting the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
    • РоZZія (derisive online slang term mocking Russian nationalists)
      RoZZija
      "RuZZia"

Usage notes[edit]

Often used by Ukrainian Internet users and politicians to mock or insult Russians, especially for the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

See also[edit]

Zulu[edit]

Letter[edit]

Z (upper case, lower case z)

  1. The twenty-sixth letter of the Zulu alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also[edit]

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