zebra

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

zebra

Wikipedia

Etymology

1600; borrowed from Italian zebra, from Portuguese zebra, zebro (“zebra”), from Old Galician-Portuguese enzebro, ezebra, azebra (“wild ass”), from earlier cebrario (882), ezebrario (897), from Vulgar Latin *eciferus, from Latin equiferus (“wild horse”) (Pliny), from equus (“horse”) + ferus (“wild”).(Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

While the word was traditionally pronounced with a long vowel in the first syllable in standard English, during the twentieth century a vowel shift occurred in regions of England, with the shortening of the first vowel. This pronunciation is now used throughout the UK and most Commonwealth nations. The long-vowel pronunciation remains standard in Canadian and American English.

(referee): In reference to the black and white striped shirts they wear.

Pronunciation

• (UK, Commonwealth) IPA^(key): /ˈzɛbɹə/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

  • Hyphenation: zeb‧ra
• (Canadian, US and traditional British English) IPA^(key): /ˈziːbɹə/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

  • Hyphenation: ze‧bra
• Rhymes: (UK, Commonwealth) -ɛbɹə, -iːbɹə

Noun

zebra (plural zebra or zebras)

1. Any of three species of subgenus Hippotigris: E. grevyi, E. quagga, or E. zebra, all with black and white stripes and native to Africa.
2. (sports, slang) A referee.
3. (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".)
4. (medicine, by extension) Someone who has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or hypermobility spectrum disorder
   • 2020, Pharmaceutical Technology‎:

     EDS charities around the world use a zebra logo to promote the idea that sometimes it really is that ‘rare’ condition.

   • 2022 December 24, CNN‎:

     “I was told in medical school, ‘when you hear hoofbeats think horses, not zebras,’” she says. Many trainee doctors receive the same advice – when a patient presents with symptoms, “look for the common thing.” That’s why EDS patients commonly refer to themselves as zebras – and also use the fabulous collective noun “dazzle.” The name represents rarity and evokes the stripy stretch marks that are a common feature on EDS skin.

5. (vulgar, derogatory, slang, ethnic slur) A biracial person, specifically one born to a Sub-Saharan African person and a white person.
   • 2021 April 10, Alex Clark, “‘I’m 51, I can say what I want’: Leone Ross has overcome her fears”, in The Guardian:

     “People change countries for all kinds of reasons,” Ross tells me. “But at least one of them was that she had this light-skinned, mixed-race child who had already been called a zebra at school.”

6. (informal) A fish, the zebra cichlid.
7. Any of various papilionid butterflies of the subgenus Paranticopsis of the genus Graphium, having black and white markings.
8. A zebra crossing.
   • 2010, Mick Herron, Slow Horses, page 247:

     On his way home he'd picked up two economy-sized bags of tortilla chips, and had dropped both when a twat in a Lexus honked him on a zebra . . .

Usage notes

• (biracial person): The term zebra, as used in its pejorative sense, was popularized on the television situation comedy The Jeffersons. The term was used by the series protagonist, George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley), to express disdain for his daughter-in-law, Jenny Willis Jefferson, whose father was white and mother was black.

Hyponyms

• (animal of genus Equus): Burchell's zebra, Grevy's zebra, quagga, plains zebra, mountain zebra
• (unlikely diagnosis): fascinoma

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• quagga
• Equus burchelli, Equus grevyi, Equus quagga, Equus zebra

References

Anagrams

• Zaber, braze

Basque

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish cebra.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ebra
• Hyphenation: ze‧bra

Noun

zebra anim

1. zebra

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• "zebra" in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia , euskaltzaindia.eus
• “zebra” in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia , euskaltzaindia.eus

Catalan

Catalan Wikipedia has an article on:

zebra

Wikipedia ^ca

Etymology

Inherited from Old Catalan atzebra, from Old Galician-Portuguese *ezevra, *ezevro.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central)
• IPA^(key): (Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

zebra f (plural zebres)

1. zebra

Derived terms

• peix zebra
• zebrat

Further reading

• “zebra” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Cebuano

Etymology

Borrowed from English zebra, from Italian zebra, from Portuguese zebra, zebro (“zebra”), from Old Galician-Portuguese enzebro, ezebra, azebra (“wild ass”), from earlier cebrario (882), ezebrario (897), from Vulgar Latin *eciferus, from Latin equiferus (“wild horse”) (Pliny), from equus (“horse”) + ferus (“wild”).

Noun

zebra

1. a 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
2. a pattern or motif similar to the stripes of a zebra
3. (informal) an animal with zebra-like stripes

Corsican

Etymology

From Portuguese zebra (“wild horse”), from zebro, from Old Galician-Portuguese zevro, from *ezevro, from Vulgar Latin *eciferus, from Latin *equiferus, from equus (“horse”) + ferus (“wild”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzɛbra/

Noun

zebra f (plural zebre)

1. Alternative form of zebru

References

• https://infcor.adecec.net/

Crimean Tatar

Etymology

Probably from Russian зебра (zebra), from Italian zebra

Noun

zebra

1. zebra

   Synonym: qaşqalı at

Declension

References

• “zebra”, in Luğatçıq (in Russian)

Czech

Czech Wikipedia has an article on:

zebra

Wikipedia ^cs

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

zebra f

1. zebra

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• zebra in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• zebra in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

Danish

Danish Wikipedia has an article on:

zebra

Wikipedia ^da

Noun

zebra c (singular definite zebraen, plural indefinite zebraer)

1. zebra

Declension

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese zebra, from Vulgar Latin *eciferus, from Latin equiferus (“wild horse”). The second sense is a shortening of zebrapad.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzeː.braː/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ze‧bra

Noun

zebra m (plural zebra's, diminutive zebraatje n)

1. A zebra, a black-and-white striped equid of the genus Equus; Equus zebra, Equus quagga or Equus grevyi.
2. A zebra crossing, a pedestrian crossing.

   Synonym: zebrapad

Hypernyms

• (pedestrian crossing): oversteekplaats

Hyponyms

• (zebra): quagga

Derived terms

• zebrahaai
• zebrapad
• zebraprint

Esperanto

Etymology

From zebro (“zebra”) +‎ -a.

Adjective

zebra (accusative singular zebran, plural zebraj, accusative plural zebrajn)

1. zebrine, hippotigrine

Hypernyms

• ekveda (“equid”)

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: zeb‧ra
• Rhymes: -rɒ

Noun

zebra (plural zebrák)

1. (biology) zebra (animal)
2. (road transport) pedestrian crossing, crosswalk, zebra crossing

Declension

Synonyms

• (crosswalk): gyalogátkelőhely

Derived terms

(Compound words):

• zebrapinty

Further reading

• zebra in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

Indonesian

Noun

zebra (first-person possessive zebraku, second-person possessive zebramu, third-person possessive zebranya)

1. zebra
2. zebra walk

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): ^*/ˈd͡zɛ.bra/
• Rhymes: -ɛbra
• Hyphenation: zè‧bra

Noun

zebra f (plural zebre)

1. zebra
2. (in the plural, informal) zebra crossing/crosswalk

Kashubian

Etymology

Borrowed from Polish zebra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzɛbra/
• Hyphenation: zeb‧ra

Noun

zebra f

1. zebra (striped mammal of the genus Equus)

References

• Eùgeniusz Gòłąbk (2011) “zebra”, in Słownik Polsko-Kaszubski / Słowôrz Pòlskò-Kaszëbsczi‎

Ladin

Noun

zebra f (plural zebres)

1. zebra

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈze.bra/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ze.bra/,

Noun

zebra f (genitive zebrae); first declension

1. (New Latin) zebra (Equus zebra)

Declension

First-declension noun.

Latvian

 zebra on Latvian Wikipedia

Etymology

Possibly ultimately from a Congolese name for the animal, via Portuguese, via some other European language. Possibly also ultimately from Latin equiferus (“wild horse”), via Portuguese and/or Italian.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzɛbra/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

zebra f (4th declension)

1. zebra (esp. Equus zebra)

Declension

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

zebra

Wikipedia ^pl

Etymology

Borrowed from French zèbre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzɛb.ra/

• Audio 1

  (file)

• Audio 2

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛbra
• Syllabification: zeb‧ra

Noun

zebra f

1. zebra (any equid of the subgenus Hippotigris)
2. (colloquial) crosswalk, pedestrian crossing, zebra crossing (pedestrian crossing featuring broad white stripes)

   Synonyms: pasy, przejście dla pieszych

3. black and white striped pattern

Declension

Related terms

Descendants

• → Kashubian: zebra

Further reading

• zebra in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• zebra in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Portuguese Wikipedia has an article on:

zebra

Wikipedia ^pt

zebra (Equus quagga antiquorum) (sense 1)

zebra (sense 5)

zebra (sense 6)

zebra (sense 9)

Etymology 1

From zebro, from Old Galician-Portuguese zebro, ezebro (“European wild ass”), from Vulgar Latin *eciferus, from Latin equiferus (“wild horse”), from equus (“horse”) + ferus (“wild”). Compare Spanish cebra.

Senses 2 and 3 of the word comes from the popular Brazilian betting game jogo do bicho, in which the animal is absent, therefore it is unlikely that a zebra will be drawn.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ze‧bra

Noun

zebra f (plural zebras)

1. zebra
2. (Brazil, slang) A victorious competitor initially thought unlikely to win, especially in sports; an underdog

   Synonym: azarão

   Aquele time ganhou quando todo mundo pensou que ele iria perder, mas que zebra!

   That team won when everyone else thought they were going to lose, what an underdog!

3. (Brazil, slang) an unexpected result in a competition
4. (Brazil, derogatory) idiot, stupid

   Synonym: burro

5. (Brazil, informal) prison uniform
6. (Portugal, informal) zebra crossing
7. (Portugal, informal) vice, a bad habit
8. (Beira) a type of lanky spinning top
9. (motor racing) curb (line of flat curbstones on the corners of racing tracks)
10. zebra pattern
11. (obsolete) cow

Usage notes

• The gender of this Portuguese word is always feminine. When the gender of the being itself must be specified, use “zebra-macho” for male, and “zebra-fêmea” for female.

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:zebra.

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• Italian: zebra
  • English: zebra

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ze‧bra

Verb

zebra

1. inflection of zebrar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “zebra” in iDicionário Aulete.
• “zebra” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “zebra” in Dicionário Online de Português.
• “zebra” in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2024.
• “zebra” in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa.
• “zebra” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /zêbra/

Noun

zȅbra f (Cyrillic spelling зе̏бра)

1. zebra

Declension

Slovene

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /zèːbra/, /zéːbra/

Noun

zẹ̄bra f

1. zebra

Inflection

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Further reading

• “zebra”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran

Spanish

Noun

zebra f (plural zebras)

1. Obsolete spelling of cebra

Further reading

• “zebra”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Swedish

Alternative forms

• sebra

Noun

zebra c

1. zebra

Declension

References

• zebra in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• zebra in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• zebra in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian zebra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: zeb‧ra

Noun

zebra (definite accusative zebrayı, plural zebralar)

1. zebra

Declension