zebra

See also: Zebra, zébra, zebră, zebrā, zebrą, żebra, and žebra

English

A zebra (species of Equus)

Etymology

1600; borrowed from Italian zebra, from Portuguese zebra, zebro (“zebra”), from Old Portuguese enzebro, ezebra, azebra (“wild ass”), from earlier cebrario (882), ezebrario (897), from Vulgar Latin *eciferus, from Latin equiferus (“wild horse”) (Pliny), from equus (“horse”) + ferus (“wild”).

(biracial person): The term zebra, as used in its pejorative sense, was popularized on the television situation comedy The Jeffersons. The term was used by the series protagonist, George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley), to express disdain for his daughter-in-law, Jenny Willis Jefferson, whose father was white and mother was black.

While the word was traditionally pronounced with a long initial vowel in standard English, during the twentieth century a vowel shift occurred in regions of England, with the adoption of an initial short vowel. This pronunciation is now used throughout the UK and most Commonwealth nations. The long vowel pronunciation remains standard in Canadian and American English.

Pronunciation

• (UK, Commonwealth) IPA^(key): /ˈzɛbɹə/, /ˈziːbɹə/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

  • Hyphenation: zeb‧ra
• (Canadian, US and trad. English) IPA^(key): /ˈziːbɹə/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

  • Hyphenation: ze‧bra

Noun

zebra (plural zebra or zebras)

1. Any of three species of genus Equus: E. grevyi, E. quagga, or E. zebra, all with black and white stripes and native to Africa.
2. (sports, slang) A referee.
3. (medicine, slang) An unlikely diagnosis, especially for symptoms probably caused by a common ailment. (Originates in the advice often given to medical students: "when you hear hoofbeats, think of horses, not zebras".)
4. (vulgar, derogatory, slang) A biracial person, specifically one born to a member of the Sub-Saharan African race and a Caucasian.
5. (informal) A fish, the zebra cichlid.
6. Any of various papilionid butterflies of the subgenus Paranticopsis of the genus Graphium, having black and white markings.

Synonyms

• (unusual diagnosis): fascinoma

Hyponyms

• (animal of genus Equus): Burchell's zebra, Grevy's zebra, quagga, plains zebra, mountain zebra

Derived terms

• mountain zebra (Equus zebra)
• plains zebra (Equus quagga
• zebra acara (Nannacara adoketa)
• zebra cichlid (Amatitlania nigrofasciata)
• zebra danio (Danio rerio)
• zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata)
• zebra fish (Danio rerio)
• zebra lionfish (Dendrochirus zebra)
• zebra mongoose (Mungos mungo)
• zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha)
• zebra shark (Stegostoma fasciatum)
• zebra spider (Salticus scenicus)
• zebra turkeyfish (Dendrochirus zebra)
• zebra wolf (†Thylacinus cynocephalus)
• zebrawood (Microberlinia spp., etc.)
• Burchell's zebra (Equus quagga burchellii)
• common zebra (Equus quagga)
• Grévy's zebra
• Grevy's zebra (Equus grevyi)
• Persian zebra (Equus hermionus onager)
• zebra butterfly (Heliconius charithonia)
• zebra cake
• zebra caterpillar (Melanchra picta)
• zebra crossing
• zebrafish
• zebra haworthia Haworthiopsis attenuata)
• zebraic
• zebralike
• zebra mule
• zebra opossum (†Thylacinus cynocephalus)
• zebra parakeet
• zebra parrot (Melopsittacus undulatus)
• zebra plant
• zebra poison (Euphorbia arborea)
• zebrass
• zebra swallowtail (Protographium marcellus)
• zebrine
• zebroid
• zeedonk
• zeehorse
• zorse

 

Translations

African animal

• Afrikaans: sebra (af)
• Albanian: zebër (sq) m
• Amharic: የሜዳ አህያ (yämeda ʾähya)
• Arabic: حِمَار وَحْشِيّ‎ m (ḥimār waḥšiyy), حِمَار وَحْشِيّ مُخَطَّط‎ m (ḥimār waḥšiyy muḵaṭṭaṭ), حِمَار الزَّرَد‎ m (ḥimār az-zarad)
• Aragonese: zebra
• Armenian: զեբր (hy) (zebr), (rare) վագրաձի (hy) (vagraji)
• Assamese: জেব্ৰা (zebra), জেবেৰা (zebera)
• Asturian: cebra f
• Azerbaijani: zebr (az), zebra (az)
• Basque: zebra (eu)
• Bau Bidayuh: kuda britik
• Belarusian: зе́бра f (zjébra)
• Bengali: জেবরা (jebra)
• Brazilian Sign Language: CAVALO^LISTRA
• Breton: roudenneged (br)
• Bulgarian: зе́бра (bg) f (zébra)
• Burmese: မြင်းကျား (my) (mrang:kya:)
• Catalan: zebra (ca) f
• Central Melanau: kudak gahet
• Cherokee: ᏐᏈᎵ ᏧᎶᎸᏗ (soquili tsulolvdi), ᏐᏈᎵ ᏧᎵᏍᏆᏓᏃᎯ (soquili tsulisquadanohi)
• Cheyenne: nêškovávo'ha
• Chichewa: mbidzi
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 斑馬, 斑马 (baan¹ maa⁵)

  Hakka: 斑馬, 斑马 (pân-mâ)

  Mandarin: 斑馬 (zh), 斑马 (zh) (bānmǎ), (obsolete) 福祿 (zh), 福禄 (zh) (fúlù)

  Min Nan: 斑馬 (zh-min-nan), 斑马 (pan-má, pan-bé), 花條馬, 花条马 (hoe-tiâu-bé), 花斑馬, 花斑马 (hoe-pan-bé)

  Wu: 斑馬, 斑马 (pe ma)

• Cornish: zebra
• Czech: zebra (cs) f
• Danish: zebra (da) c
• Dutch: zebra (nl) m
• Esperanto: zebro (eo)
• Estonian: sebra (et)
• Finnish: seepra (fi)
• French: zèbre (fr) m
• Galician: cebra (gl) f
• Georgian: ზებრა (zebra)
• German: Zebra (de) n, Tigerpferd (de) n
• Greek: ζέβρος (el) m (zévros), ζέβρα (el) f (zévra), όναγρος (el) m (ónagros)
• Greenlandic: siutituut nimeruaartut
• Hadza: dongo m, dongoko f, hantaii
• Haitian Creole: zèb
• Hebrew: זֶבְּרָה‎ (he) f (zébra)
• Hindi: ज़ीब्रा m (zībrā), ज़ेब्रा m (zebrā)
• Hungarian: zebra (hu)
• Icelandic: sebrahestur (is) m
• Indonesian: zebra (id)
• Interlingua: zebra
• Irish: séabra
• Italian: zebra (it)
• Japanese: 縞馬 (しまうま, shimauma), シマウマ (ja) (shimauma), ゼブラ (zebura)
• Kazakh: зебір (zebir), зебра (zebra)
• Khmer: សេះបង្កង់ (seh bɑngkɑng)
• Kongo: mbizi
• Korean: 얼룩말 (ko) (eollungmal)
• Koyraboro Senni: ganjifarka
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: zebra (ku)

• Kyrgyz: зебра (ky) (zebra)
• Ladin: zebra f

• Lao: ມ້າລາຍ (mā lāi)
• Latin: hippotīgris m or f
• Latvian: zebra (lv) f
• Limburgish: zaeber (li)
• Lingala: zébélé
• Lithuanian: zebras (lt) m
• Luxembourgish: Zebra (lb) m
• Macedonian: зе́бра f (zébra)
• Malagasy: zebra (mg)
• Malay: kuda belang (ms), kuda habluk, kuda loreng
• Maori: hepara
• Mongolian: тахө (tahö), эрээн тахь (ereen tahʹ)
• Nahuatl: cebra
• Nama: ǃgoreb
• Navajo: tééh łį́į́ʼ
• Norman: zèbre m
• Northern Sotho: pitsi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sebra (no) m

  Nynorsk: sebra m

• Oromo: zebra
• Papiamentu: zebra
• Pashto: بييی‎ (biyay)
• Persian: گورخر‎ (fa) (gurxar), زبرا‎ (zebrâ)
• Polish: zebra (pl) f
• Portuguese: zebra (pt) f
• Quechua: siwra
• Romanian: zebră (ro) f
• Russian: зе́бра (ru) f (zébra)
• Scottish Gaelic: asal-stiallach m or f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: зебра f

  Roman: zebra (sh) f

• Shona: mbizi
• Sindhi: زيبرو‎ (sd) m, زيبرِي‎ f
• Sinhalese: සීබ්‍රා (sīb‍rā)
• Slovak: zebra (sk) f
• Slovene: zebra (sl) f
• Spanish: cebra (es) f
• Swahili: punda milia class 9/10
• Swedish: zebra (sv) c, sebra (sv) c
• Tagalog: sebra
• Tajik: гӯрхар (gürxar), зебра (zebra)
• Tatar: зебра (zebra)
• Telugu: చారలగుర్రము (cāralagurramu)
• Thai: ม้าลาย (th) (máa-laai)
• Tibetan: རྐྱང་ཁྲ (rkyang khra)
• Tigrinya: ኣድጊ በረኻ (ʾadgi bäräxa), ዘብራ (zäbra)
• Translingual: Equus zebra
• Turkish: zebra (tr)
• Turkmen: zebra
• Ukrainian: зе́бра f (zébra)
• Uzbek: zebra (uz)
• Venetian: xebra
• Veps: zebr
• Vietnamese: ngựa vằn (vi) (馭𤝋)
• Volapük: sebrad
• Welsh: sebra m
• Wolof: fasu àll wi
• Xhosa: iqwarhashe
• Yiddish: זעברע‎ (zebre)
• Yoruba: kẹ́tẹ́kẹ́tẹ́ abilà
• Zulu: idube (zu)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Hindi: ^{(please verify)} जेबरा (hi) (jebrā)

See also

• quagga
• Equus burchelli, Equus grevyi, Equus quagga, Equus zebra

Anagrams

• Zaber, braze

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Basque

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

zebra

1. zebra

Declension

Declension of zebra (animate) indefinite singular plural absolutive zebra zebra zebrak ergative zebrak zebrak zebrek dative zebrari zebrari zebrei genitive zebraren zebraren zebren comitative zebrarekin zebrarekin zebrekin causative zebrarengatik zebrarengatik zebrengatik benefactive zebrarentzat zebrarentzat zebrentzat instrumental zebraz zebraz zebrez inessive zebrarengan zebrarengan zebrengan allative zebrarengana zebrarengana zebrengana terminative zebrarenganaino zebrarenganaino zebrenganaino directive zebrarenganantz zebrarenganantz zebrenganantz destinative zebrarenganako zebrarenganako zebrenganako ablative zebrarengandik zebrarengandik zebrengandik partitive zebrarik - - prolative zebratzat - -

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Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /ˈze.bɾə/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈze.bɾa/

Noun

zebra f (plural zebres)

1. zebra

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Cebuano

Etymology

Borrowed from English zebra, from Italian zebra, from Portuguese zebra, zebro (“zebra”), from Old Portuguese enzebro, ezebra, azebra (“wild ass”), from earlier cebrario (882), ezebrario (897), from Vulgar Latin *eciferus, from Latin equiferus (“wild horse”) (Pliny), from equus (“horse”) + ferus (“wild”).

Noun

zebra

1. a zebra; any of three species of genus Equus: E. grevyi, E. quagga, or E. zebra, all with black and white stripes and native to Africa
2. a pattern or motif similar to the stripes of a zebra
3. (informal) an animal with zebra-like stripes

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Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzɛbra/

Noun

zebra f

1. zebra

Declension

Declension

	singular	plural
nominative	zebra	zebry
genitive	zebry	zeber
dative	zebře	zebrám
accusative	zebru	zebry
vocative	zebro	zebry
locative	zebře	zebrách
instrumental	zebrou	zebrami

Further reading

• zebra in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• zebra in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

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Danish

Noun

zebra c (singular definite zebraen, plural indefinite zebraer)

1. zebra

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Dutch

Drie zebra's. — Three zebras (sense 1).

Een zekere zebra in Londen. — A certain zebra crossing in London.

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese zebra, from Vulgar Latin *eciferus, from Latin equiferus (“wild horse”). The second sense is a shortening of zebrapad.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzeː.braː/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ze‧bra

Noun

zebra m (plural zebra's, diminutive zebraatje n)

1. A zebra, a black-and-white striped equid of the genus Equus; Equus zebra, Equus quagga or Equus grevyi. [from late 16th c.]
2. A zebra crossing, a pedestrian crossing. [from mid 1950s.]

   Synonym: zebrapad

Hypernyms

• (pedestrian crossing): oversteekplaats

Hyponyms

• (zebra): quagga

Derived terms

• zebrahaai
• zebrapad
• zebraprint

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Esperanto

Etymology

From zebro (“zebra”) +‎ -a.

Adjective

zebra (accusative singular zebran, plural zebraj, accusative plural zebrajn)

1. zebrine, hippotigrine

Hypernyms

• ekveda (“equid”)

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Hungarian

Zebra [1].

Zebra [2].

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈzɛbrɒ]
• Hyphenation: zeb‧ra

Noun

zebra (plural zebrák)

1. (biology) zebra (animal)
2. (road transport) pedestrian crossing, crosswalk, zebra crossing

Declension

Inflection (stem in long/high vowel, back harmony)
	singular	plural
nominative	zebra	zebrák
accusative	zebrát	zebrákat
dative	zebrának	zebráknak
instrumental	zebrával	zebrákkal
causal-final	zebráért	zebrákért
translative	zebrává	zebrákká
terminative	zebráig	zebrákig
essive-formal	zebraként	zebrákként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	zebrában	zebrákban
superessive	zebrán	zebrákon
adessive	zebránál	zebráknál
illative	zebrába	zebrákba
sublative	zebrára	zebrákra
allative	zebrához	zebrákhoz
elative	zebrából	zebrákból
delative	zebráról	zebrákról
ablative	zebrától	zebráktól
non-attributive possessive - singular	zebráé	zebráké
non-attributive possessive - plural	zebráéi	zebrákéi

Possessive forms of zebra
possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	zebrám	zebráim
2nd person sing.	zebrád	zebráid
3rd person sing.	zebrája	zebrái
1st person plural	zebránk	zebráink
2nd person plural	zebrátok	zebráitok
3rd person plural	zebrájuk	zebráik

Synonyms

• (crosswalk): gyalogátkelőhely

Derived terms

(Compound words):

• zebrapinty

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Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈd͡zɛb.ra/

Noun

zebra f (plural zebre)

1. zebra
2. (in the plural, informal) zebra crossing

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Ladin

Noun

zebra f (plural zebres)

1. zebra

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈzeː.bra/
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ze.bra/, [ˈd͡zɛː.bra]

Noun

zēbra f (genitive zēbrae); first declension

1. (New Latin) zebra (Equus zebra)

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	zēbra	zēbrae
Genitive	zēbrae	zēbrārum
Dative	zēbrae	zēbrīs
Accusative	zēbram	zēbrās
Ablative	zēbrā	zēbrīs
Vocative	zēbra	zēbrae

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Latvian

Zebra

Etymology

Possibly ultimately from a Congolese name for the animal, via Portuguese, via some other European language. Possibly also ultimately from Latin equiferus (“wild horse”), via Portuguese and/or Italian.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzɛbra/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

zebra f (4th declension)

1. zebra (esp. Equus zebra)

Declension

Declension of zebra (4th declension)

	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs)	zebra	zebras
accusative (akuzatīvs)	zebru	zebras
genitive (ģenitīvs)	zebras	zebru
dative (datīvs)	zebrai	zebrām
instrumental (instrumentālis)	zebru	zebrām
locative (lokatīvs)	zebrā	zebrās
vocative (vokatīvs)	zebra	zebras

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Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzɛ.bra/

• (file)

Noun

zebra f

1. zebra (animal)
2. (colloquial) zebra crossing

   Synonyms: przejście dla pieszych, pasy

Declension

declension of zebra

	singular	plural
nominative	zebra	zebry
genitive	zebry	zebr
dative	zebrze	zebrom
accusative	zebrę	zebry
instrumental	zebrą	zebrami
locative	zebrze	zebrach
vocative	zebro	zebry

Further reading

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

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Portuguese

zebra (Equus quagga antiquorum)

Etymology

From zebro, from Old Portuguese zebro, ezebro (“European wild ass”), from Vulgar Latin *eciferus, from Latin equiferus (“wild horse”), from equus (“horse”) + ferus (“wild”). Compare Spanish cebra.

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈze.βɾɐ/
• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈze.bɾa/, /ˈze.bɾɐ/
• Hyphenation: ze‧bra

Noun

zebra f (plural zebras)

1. zebra

Descendants

• Italian: zebra
  • English: zebra

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Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /zêbra/

Noun

zȅbra f (Cyrillic spelling зе̏бра)

1. zebra

Declension

Declension of zebra

	singular	plural
nominative	zebra	zebre
genitive	zebre	zebra
dative	zebri	zebrama
accusative	zebru	zebre
vocative	zebro	zebre
locative	zebri	zebrama
instrumental	zebrom	zebrama

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Slovene

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /zèːbra/, /zéːbra/

Noun

zẹ̄bra f

1. zebra

Inflection

Feminine, a-stem
nom. sing.	zébra
gen. sing.	zébre
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	zébra	zébri	zébre
accusative	zébro	zébri	zébre
genitive	zébre	zéber	zéber
dative	zébri	zébrama	zébram
locative	zébri	zébrah	zébrah
instrumental	zébro	zébrama	zébrami

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Spanish

Noun

zebra f (plural zebras)

1. Obsolete spelling of cebra

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Swedish

Alternative forms

• sebra

Noun

zebra c

1. zebra

Declension

Declension of zebra
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	zebra	zebran	zebror	zebrorna
Genitive	zebras	zebrans	zebrors	zebrornas

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Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from English zebra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈzeb.ɾɑ]
• Hyphenation: zeb‧ra

Noun

zebra (definite accusative zebrayı, plural zebralar)

1. zebra

Declension

Inflection
Nominative	zebra
Definite accusative	zebrayı
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	zebra	zebralar
Definite accusative	zebrayı	zebraları
Dative	zebraya	zebralara
Locative	zebrada	zebralarda
Ablative	zebradan	zebralardan
Genitive	zebranın	zebraların