Z

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"

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Translingual

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Z

Wikipedia

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Letter

Z (lower case z)

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

Symbol

Z

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

Derived terms

Base SI units derived from the prefix meaning zetta-

Template:mid3

Zkg
Zm

Template:mid3

Zmol
Zs

Derived SI units derived from the prefix meaning zetta-

ZBq
ZC
ZF
ZGy
ZH
ZHz
ZJ

Template:mid3

ZS
ZSv
Zsr
ZT
ZV
ZW
ZWb

Gallery

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

English

Pronunciation

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Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL. IPA^(key): /zi/
Audio (UK) (file)
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -ɛd, -iː

Letter

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

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

American Sign Language

Letter

(Stokoe Z)

The letter Z

Azerbaijani

Letter

Z upper case (lower case z)

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

Dutch

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /zɛt/
Audio (file)

Letter

Z (capital, lowercase z)

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

Abbreviation

Z

Abbreviation of zuid; south

Esperanto

Letter

Z (upper case, lower case z)

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

Estonian

Estonian Wikipedia has an article on:

Z

Wikipedia ^et

Letter

Z (upper case, lower case z)

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

Usage notes

Used only in loanwords.

Finnish

Letter

Z (upper case, lower case z)

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

Usage notes

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

German

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /tsɛt/
Audio (file)

Letter

Z (upper case, lower case z)

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

Usage notes

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.

German Sign Language

Etymology

Related to the French Sign Language sign for "Z".

Production

This one-handed GSL sign is produced as follows:

Posture the dominant hand in the “Z” shape, which is very similar to the “D” shape, and then move it in a "z"-shaped zig-zag as indicated in the picture below.

Letter

the letter Z

Ido

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /z/

Letter

Z (lower case z)

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

Italian

Italian Wikipedia has an article on:

Z

Wikipedia ^it

Pronunciation

(name of letter) IPA^(key): /ˈdzɛta/
(phoneme) IPA^(key): /ts/, /dz/

Letter

Z m or f (invariable, lower case z)

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

Symbol

Z

The letter zeta in the Greek alphabet

Latin

Etymology

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

(Classical) IPA^(key): /z/, [z̪]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /d͡z/, [d̪͡z̪]

Letter

Z (upper case, lower case z)

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

References

“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

Latvian Wikipedia has an article on:

Z

Wikipedia ^lv

Etymology

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

IPA^(key): [z]

This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

Letter

Z

Z (upper case, lower case z)

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

Malay

Malay Wikipedia has an article on:

Z

Wikipedia ^ms

Pronunciation

Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "Name of letter" is not valid. See WT:LOL. IPA^(key): [zɛt̚], [zɛk̚], [zi]
Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "Phoneme, Syllable initial" is not valid. See WT:LOL. IPA^(key): [z]
Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "Phoneme, Syllable final" is not valid. See WT:LOL. IPA^(key): [s]

Letter

Z (upper case, lower case z)

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

Portuguese

Letter

Z (upper case, lower case z)

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

Romanian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ze/, /zet/

Letter

Z (upper case, lower case z)

The twenty-eighth letter of the Romanian alphabet representing the phoneme /z/. Preceded by X.

Saanich

Letter

Z

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

Skolt Sami

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /z/

Letter

Z (lower case z)

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

Slovene

Slovene Wikipedia has an article on:

Z

Wikipedia ^sl

Pronunciation

Letter

Z (capital, lowercase z)

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

Spanish

Letter

Z (upper case, lower case z)

The 27th letter of the Spanish alphabet.

Turkish

Letter

Z (upper case, lower case z)

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

Zulu

Letter

Z (upper case, lower case z)

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