different between zed vs zek

English

Etymology

From Middle English zed, zedde, zede, from Old French zede, from Late Latin zeta, from Ancient Greek ???? (zêta). Letter had rare nonstandard usage in Old English, such as in bezt, where it represented "ts" (compare the German pronunciation of Z). For the sleep sense, see zzz. The zombie sense comes from the initial letter. Doublet of zeta.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /z?d/
• Rhymes: -?d

Noun

zed (plural zeds) (chiefly Commonwealth)

1. The name of the Latin-script letter Z.
2. (in combination) Something Z-shaped.

3. (colloquial, usually in the plural) Sleep.

4. (slang) A zombie.

   A horde of zeds began to shuffle into the shopping mall.

Synonyms

• (all): zee (US, Newfoundland)
• (letter): izzard (Scotland)
• (sleep): zee (Canada) (more common)

Translations

See also

• (Latin-script letter names) letter; a, bee, cee, dee, e, ef, gee, aitch, i, jay, kay, el, em, en, o, pee, cue, ar, ess, tee, u, vee, double-u, ex, wye, zee / zed

Verb

zed (third-person singular simple present zeds, present participle zedding, simple past and past participle zedded) (chiefly Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, South Africa)

1. (intransitive, informal) To sleep or nap. (Compare zzz, catch some z's.)
2. (intransitive, rare) To zigzag; to move with sharp alternating turns.
   • 1931, Reginald Rankin, The Collected Works of Lt. Colonel Sir Reginald Rankin

     We were zedding hell-bells up the hill towards Cervione, with a bank of road metal and a precipice on our left...

See also

• zeta

Yola

Adjective

zed

1. stewed, sodden

References

• Jacob Poole (1867) , William Barnes, editor, A glossary, with some pieces of verse, of the old dialect of the English colony in the baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, J. Russell Smith, ?ISBN

English

Etymology

From Russian ???? (z??k), probably representing a pronunciation of ?/? (z/k), Soviet abbreviation of ??????????? (zaklju?ónnyj, “prisoner”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /z?k/

Noun

zek (plural zeks)

1. A prisoner at a Russian prison, especially (historical) at a Soviet labour camp. [from 20th c.]
   • 1988, Stefani Hoffman, translating Natan Sharansky, Fear No Evil, p. 235:

     Every prisoner who recants is a potential influence on other zeks to do likewise.

   • 2004, Jason Burke, The Observer, 8 Feb 2004:

     There are the zeks, the survivors of the gulags, some honest about their experiences, others still deluded or traumatised decades later.

Anagrams

• Kez

Basque

Noun

zek

1. ergative indefinite of ze

Breton

Numeral

zek

1. Soft mutation of dek.