zebra
Syllables: zeb·ra/ˈziː.bɹə/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Commonwealth/ˈzɛb.ɹə/
zebra noun: any of three species of subgenus Hippotigris: Equus grevyi, Equus quagga, or Equus zebra, all with black and white stripes and native to Africa.
Noun (1)
zebra (plural zebra or zebras)
- Any of three species of subgenus Hippotigris: Equus grevyi, Equus quagga, or Equus zebra, all with black and white stripes and native to Africa.
- A group of zebras can be called a dazzle.2019 June 6, “A gaggle, a confusion and a conspiracy - bizarre animal collective group names”, in BBC
- A referee.
- An unlikely diagnosis, especially for symptoms probably caused by a common ailment.
- "It's a zebra! George. OK, I should explain. A zebra is..."
"Medical slang for coming to an exotic diagnosis when a more simple explanation is more likely."
"That's right. I was convinced that George, given his age and symptoms, had some kind of cardiac issue. It fit, it made sense. Because I was...2005 March 7, “Apologies and Rememberances”, in Good Witch, season 1, episode 2 (TV), spoken by Dr. Sam Radford and Cassie Nightingale (James Denton and Catherine Bell), via Hallmark
- "It's a zebra! George. OK, I should explain. A zebra is..."
- Someone who has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or hypermobility spectrum disorder
- EDS charities around the world use a zebra logo to promote the idea that sometimes it really is that ‘rare’ condition.2020, Pharmaceutical Technology
- “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...2022 December 24, CNN
- A biracial person, specifically one born to a Sub-Saharan African person and a white person.
- “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.”2021 April 10, Alex Clark, “‘I’m 51, I can say what I want’: Leone Ross has overcome her fears”, in The Guardian
- A zebra cichlid (Amatitlania nigrofasciata).
- Any of various papilionid butterflies of the subgenus Paranticopsis of the genus Graphium, having black and white markings.
- A zebra crossing.
- 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 . . .2010, Mick Herron, Slow Horses, page 247
- A fairy chess piece that is moved three squares in one direction and two at right angles to that direction in a single move, leaping over any intervening pieces.
Noun (2) capitalized: Zebra
Zebra
- radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter Z.
- Synonyms:
- Zulu
zebra meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
zebra in Hindi
- African animal
- ज़ीब्रा zībrā, ज़ेब्रा zebrā, जेबरा jebrā, जबरा jabrā, जेब्रा jebrā, गोरखर gorkhar
zebra in Tamil
- African animal
- வரிக்குதிரை varikkutirai
zebra in Marathi
- झेब्रा, झीब्रा
zebra in Urdu
- گور خر
More languagesFewer languages
- zebra in Bengali
- জেবরা jebora, জেব্রা jebra
- zebra in Telugu
- చారలగుర్రము cāralagurramu
- zebra in Malayalam
- വരയൻകുതിര varayaṉkutira
- zebra in Kannada
- ಜೀಬ್ರ
- zebra in Punjabi
- ਜ਼ੇਬਰਾ, ਜ਼ੈਬਰਾ, ਜ਼ੇਬ੍ਰਾ
- zebra in Gujarati
- ઝેબ્રા, ઝીબ્રા
- zebra in Odia
- ଜେବ୍ରା, ଝେବ୍ରା
- zebra in Sinhala
- සීබ්රා sībrā
- zebra in Assamese
- জেব্ৰা zebra, জেবেৰা zebera
- zebra in Nepali
- जेब्रा jebrā
- zebra in Pashto
- بييی biyay
- zebra in Tagalog
- sebra
- zebra in Arabic
- حِمَار وَحْشِيّ ḥimār waḥšiyy, حِمَار وَحْشِيّ مُخَطَّط ḥimār waḥšiyy muḵaṭṭaṭ, حِمَار الزَّرَد ḥimār az-zarad
- zebra in Malay
- kuda belang, kuda habluk, kuda loreng, zebra
- zebra in Indonesian
- zebra
- zebra in Persian
- گورخر gurxar, زبرا zebrâ
- zebra in Thai
- ม้าลาย máa-laai
- zebra in Vietnamese
- ngựa vằn
- zebra in Myanmar
- မြင်းကျား mrang:kya:
- Sindhi
- زيبرو zebro, زيبرِي zebrī
- Dhivehi
- ޒިބްރާ zibrā
Examples of zebra in a sentence
- Zebra mussels are causing significant problems as an invasive species in North America.
- These bone features, distinctive in the zebra, are actually present in all horses.
- He looked like a baby zebra, curled up in his stripy T-shirt.
Synonyms of zebra
Forms of zebra
| plural | zebra |
|---|---|
| plural | zebras |
Origin of zebra
First attested in 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”). 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 and is used in the UK only by some older, conservative RP speakers. (unlikely diagnosis): Originates in the advice often given to medical students, "when you hear hoofbeats, think of horses, not zebras". (referee): In reference to the black and white striped shirts they wear.
Words formed from zebra
- Burchell's zebra
- Cape mountain zebra
- Chapman's zebra
- common zebra
- Crawshay's zebra
- Damaraland zebra
- Grant's zebra
- Grevy's zebra
- Grévy's zebra
- Hartmann's mountain zebra
- maneless zebra
- mountain zebra
- Persian zebra
- plains zebra (Equus quagga
- Selous's zebra
- Selous' zebra
- zebra acara
- zebra antelope
- zebra-back
- zebra-bird
- zebra blue butterfly
- zebra butterfly
- zebra cake
- zebra caterpillar
- zebra chip
- zebra cichlid
- zebra crossing
- zebra danio
- zebra dove
- zebra duiker
- zebra finch
- zebrafish
- zebra fish
- zebra giraffe
- zebra haworthia
- zebraic
- zebralike
- zebra lionfish
- zebra mongoose
- zebra mouse
- zebra mule
- zebra mussel
- zebra opossum
- zebra parakeet
- zebra parrot
- zebra plant
- zebra poison
- zebra seahorse
- zebra shark
- zebra spider
- zebrass
- zebra striping
- zebra swallowtail
- zebra-tailed lizard
- Callisaurus draconoides
- zebra turkeyfish
- zebra wolf
- zebrawood
- zebrine
- zebroid
Phrases with zebra
Words that rhyme with zebra
Questions about zebra
- What does zebra mean?
- Zebra means any of three species of subgenus Hippotigris: Equus grevyi, Equus quagga, or Equus zebra, all with black and white stripes and native to Africa.
- What is zebra in Hindi?
- Zebra in Hindi is ज़ीब्रा (zībrā), ज़ेब्रा (zebrā), जेबरा (jebrā). See Zebra meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is zebra?
- Zebra is a noun.
- How do you pronounce zebra?
- Zebra is pronounced /ˈzɛb.ɹə/ (Commonwealth).
- What is the plural of zebra?
- The plural of zebra is zebra.
Words near zebra in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: zebra (page history and authors); Zebra (page history and authors); zebra (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); zebra (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); വരയൻകുതിര (Malayalam) (page history and authors); zebra (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); zebra (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); zebra (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); zebra (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-zebra.ogg, en-us-zebra.ogg.
Cite this entry: “zebra.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/zebra. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.