zebra
1600; borrowed from Italian zebra, from Portuguese zebra, zebro, from roa-opt enzebro, ezebra, azebra, from earlier cebrario (882), ezebrario (897), from Vulgar Latin *eciferus, from Latin equiferus (Pliny), from equus + ferus ("wild").
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1600; borrowed from Italian zebra, from Portuguese zebra, zebro, from roa-opt enzebro, ezebra, azebra, from earlier cebrario (882), ezebrario (897), from Vulgar Latin *eciferus, from Latin equiferus (Pliny), from equus + ferus ("wild").
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 Nounzebra (plural 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.
- (sports, slang) A referee.
- (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".)
- (vulgar, pejorative, slang) A biracial person, specifically one born to a member of the Sub-Saharan African race and a Caucasian.
- (informal) A fish, the zebra cichlid.
- Any of various papilionid butterflies of the subgenus Paranticopsis of the genus Graphium, having black and white markings.
- (unusual diagnosis) fascinoma
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003