Zen

How to spell zen

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce zen

What does zen mean?

1. nounA school of Buddhism that emphasises meditation and direct, intuitive insight.
2. adjectiveInformally calm, composed, and untroubled by stress.

Zen in a sentence

• noun

  The retreat centre teaches zen to anyone curious about meditation.

• adjective

  He stayed remarkably zen during the chaos of moving house.

• noun

  Her dissertation compared zen with other contemplative traditions.

• adjective

  A tidy desk and a quiet office keep her feeling zen at work.

Where does zen come from?

Language of origin: Japanese

Zen traces back through several languages before settling into its short modern spelling. The deepest root is the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which literally meant 'meditation' or 'absorbed contemplation'. As Buddhism spread eastward, that term was borrowed into Chinese and pronounced chán, then carried into Japan, where it became Zen and named a particular school of Buddhism that stressed silent seated meditation and direct insight rather than scripture. English picked the word up directly from Japanese in the late 1700s and 1800s as Western interest in Buddhism grew, and it became widely familiar in the twentieth century. Along the way the word grew an informal everyday sense for a state of calm, unbothered focus, which is now common in casual writing. The spelling is mercifully simple, just three letters, so the only real question is whether to capitalise it as the religious tradition or leave it lowercase for the informal mood.

How the word is built

• zen (single root, from Japanese Zen, ultimately Sanskrit dhyāna 'meditation')