zed
noun
the letter Z or z.
zed
1 American
[zed]
/ zɛd /
noun
Chiefly British.
zeds
plural
-
the letter Z or z.
-
a Z-bar.
Zed
2
American
[zed]
/ zɛd /
noun
zed
British
/ zɛd /
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of zed
1400–50; late Middle English < Middle French zede < Latin zēta < Greek zêta zeta
Explanation
In Britain, the last letter of the alphabet is known as zed. If your name is Lizzie, you spell it with two zeds. If you're from England, Canada, or New Zealand, the alphabet ends with zed, while in the U.S. it's pronounced zee. In most of the English-speaking world, comprehending a subject completely means understanding it from A to zed. Zed, from the Greek zēta, was originally one of many words for Z, which included izzard, uzzard, and zod. Americans may have chosen to use zee in the 1600s as a way of differentiating themselves from the British.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
While zed in the Russian Cyrillic alphabet is written differently - and looks like a 3 - most Russians recognise Latin letters.
From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2022
He took us past Zebra, and way beyond zed.
From New York Times ● Jul. 19, 2015
We are an experiment going right for a change, with influences that range from a to zed.
From Reuters ● Feb. 13, 2010
Thur wur two or dree gentlemen in, an' thay larfed at the fizzle an' I. It seemed to meak me veel merryish, an' I zed, "What's to pay, young 'ooman?"
From A Cotswold Village by Gibbs, J. Arthur
Why Teddy, zed Pall, dwontye zend Miss Hanson thic zong which ye made yerzel; I thenk ther is a moril in thic.
From The Dialect of the West of England; Particularly Somersetshire by Jennings, James
The La Brea Tar Pits & Museum is finally getting a star attraction: Zed, a roughly 40,000-year-old Columbian mammoth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026
The 24-year-old, who‘s gained a tween following after playing Zed in Disney Channel’s “Zombies” franchise, is part of the youth cohort Trujillo wanted to cast.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2025
Zed came to know about the presence of beef only after he contacted Baskin-Robbins customer service, who said that the "gelatin in Rocky Road is from both porcine and beef source."
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2023
It took a mere five texts from Zed to convince her to give him another chance after lying by omission about his home life.
From New York Times ● Jun. 22, 2023
But that was just as well, because all day long I dreaded dealing with Zed, even though the rest of the team had done their bits during the day.
From "Lawn Boy Returns" by Gary Paulsen
The twin zeds in Z&Z Manoushe Bakery do not stand for anyone connected with the small, family-run Rockville shop.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 5, 2022
But, hunting among the zeds, I decided to write about "zanies" in the sense of clowns, fools and comics.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 5, 2012
Thousands of policymakers and scientists from all over the world had gathered, hoping to dot the i's, cross the zeds and umlaut the o's on the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the U.N.
From Time Magazine Archive
His esses are like zeds, and his effs are like vees.
From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz
The Zummerzetzheer dialect, full of broad oos and eternal zeds, supplies never-failing laughter when brought upon the stage.
From Tales and Novels — Volume 04 by Edgeworth, Maria
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
