Zebra

How to spell zebra

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce zebra

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does zebra mean?

1. nounA wild African mammal related to the horse, with a coat of bold black and white stripes.

Zebra in a sentence

• The photographer waited hours to capture a single zebra at the watering hole.

• Every zebra has a unique pattern of stripes, much like a human fingerprint.

Where does zebra come from?

Language of origin: Other

The word came into English around 1600 through Italian and Portuguese, which had taken it from a Congo or wider West African source where it described the animal. Earlier the same form had been applied in Portuguese and Old Spanish to a wild horse or wild ass, and the name was later transferred to the striped African animal European travellers encountered. Some scholars trace the deeper root to a Latin word equiferus, meaning 'wild horse', built from equus 'horse' and ferus 'wild', though this link is debated. The spelling has stayed remarkably stable since it entered English, which is why the only real uncertainty for a writer is the opening letter z rather than the rest of the word. Today it names the familiar black and white striped relative of the horse native to Africa.

How the word is built

• zebra (a single unanalysable root; no prefix or suffix)