Zed

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The name for the final letter of the modern English alphabet, pronounced as a single syllable; commonly used in British and Commonwealth English to denote this letter; also employed symbolically to represent endings or last items
2. The designation for the last character in the alphabet, vocalized with a 'z' sound followed by a soft 'd'; primarily recognized in varieties of English outside North America; used in contexts involving spelling, lettering, or alphabetical order
3. Identifying the ultimate letter in the sequence of English letters, spoken with a clear 'zed' pronunciation; found in linguistic and educational settings where letter names are taught or referenced; occasionally symbolizing the conclusion of a series or list

Etymology: The letter's name took a long detour. The Hebrew letter zayin, whose shape was the seventh letter of the Semitic alphabet, passed into Greek, where it was renamed "zeta" and placed at the same point in the sequence. Greek speakers seem to have shaped the new name partly on "beta" and "eta" and "theta", the other letter names of the period. Late Latin borrowed that form as "zeta", and Old French turned it into "zede", which reached English in Middle English as "zed" or "zedde". The name survived in British and Commonwealth use while American English shifted to "zee", a form that appears to have been influenced by the Latin-derived "zeta" pronunciation. Both forms are doublets of the Greek "zeta", meaning they descend from the same original word by different routes. Old English once used the letter itself in a different way. In a word such as "bezt", the letter stood for a "ts" sound, close to how German, Italian and Finnish pronounce the letter today.

Synonyms: zee, Z, last letter, alphabet end, final letter