Z
| The Latin alphabet | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aa | Bb | Cc | Dd | ||
| Ee | Ff | Gg | Hh | Ii | Jj |
| Kk | Ll | Mm | Nn | Oo | Pp |
| Rr | Ss | Tt | Uu | Vv | |
| Ww | Xx | Yy | Zz | ||
Z is the twenty-sixth (number 26) and last letter in the English alphabet. The small letter, z, is used as a lower case consonant. Z is not used much. It is the most rarely used letter in the English language. The same letter of the Greek alphabet is named zeta.
Contents |
How it is said [change]
The letter is said as zed /ˈzɛd/. This is because it comes from the Greek zeta. In American English, its name is zee /ˈziː/, because it comes from a late 17th century English speech.[1]
Where it came from [change]
| Phoenician zayin |
Etruscan Z |
Greek zeta |
|---|---|---|
 |
 |
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Semitic [change]
The name of the Semitic symbol was zayin and was the seventh letter. It might have meant "weapon". It could have helped form English and French's z.
Greek [change]
The Greek form of Z was a close copy of the Phoenician symbol I. It stayed like this for a long time. The Greeks called it zeta, a new name made from the Greek letters eta (η) and theta (θ).
Etruscan [change]
In Etruscan, Z may have been /ts/.
Latin [change]
In Old Latin, /z/ (written s) became /r/ and the symbol for /z/ became useless. It was taken away from the alphabet by Appius Claudius Caecus, and a new letter, G, was put in.
In the 1st century BC, Z was put in the alphabet again at the end of the Latin alphabet. This was done to accurately represent the sound of the Greek zeta. The letter Z appeared only in Greek words, and is the only letter besides Y that the Romans took from Greek.
