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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

zed.

The name of the Latin script letter Z/z.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/zɛd/

  1. The name of the Latin script letter Z/z.

    Commonwealth · Ireland

  2. Something Z-shaped.

    Commonwealth · Ireland · in-compounds
    zed-bar

  3. Sleep.

    Commonwealth · Ireland · colloquial · plural-normally
    I'm going to go get some zeds.

  4. A zombie.

    Commonwealth · Ireland · slang
    A horde of zeds began to shuffle into the shopping mall.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English zed, zedde, zede, from Old French zede, from Late Latin zeta, from Ancient Greek ζῆτα (zêta), from Hebrew ז (zayin) with influence from βῆτα (bêta), ἦτα (êta) and θῆτα (thêta). The letter had a rare usage in Old English, such as in bezt, where it represented "ts" (compare the German, Italian, and Finnish pronunciation of Z). For the sleep sense, see zzz. The zombie sense comes from the initial letter. Doublet of zeta. Cognate to Spanish zeta, German Zett, French zède, Italian zeta, and perhaps Portuguese zê.

verb/zɛd/

  1. To sleep or nap. (Compare zzz, catch some z's.)

    Commonwealth · Ireland · UK · informal · intransitive

  2. To zigzag; to move with sharp alternating turns.

    Commonwealth · Ireland · UK · intransitive · rare
Where this word comes from

From Middle English zed, zedde, zede, from Old French zede, from Late Latin zeta, from Ancient Greek ζῆτα (zêta), from Hebrew ז (zayin) with influence from βῆτα (bêta), ἦτα (êta) and θῆτα (thêta). The letter had a rare usage in Old English, such as in bezt, where it represented "ts" (compare the German, Italian, and Finnish pronunciation of Z). For the sleep sense, see zzz. The zombie sense comes from the initial letter. Doublet of zeta. Cognate to Spanish zeta, German Zett, French zède, Italian zeta, and perhaps Portuguese zê.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.