Word.ws English Dictionary

zephyr

UK/ˈzɛfə(ɹ)//ˈzɛfɚ/

zephyr noun: a light wind from the west.

zephyr: a light wind from the west
Image: Gowr, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

zephyr (plural zephyrs)

  1. A light wind from the west.
    • The Western [winds] have been Counted the mildest, & most Auspicious of all others; and were so highly in favour with the Poets, that they thought them worthy of the Golden Age, and to refresh the Elysian groves. [...] But though the Breathing Zephyrs are so much celebrated in Poems and Romances...1671, R. Bohun, A Discourse Concerning the Origine and Properties of Wind, Oxford: Tho. Bowman, pages 149–150
    Synonyms:
    westerly
  2. Any light refreshing wind; a gentle breeze.
    • O thou Goddeſſe, / Thou diuine Nature; thou^([sic – meaning how]) thy ſelfe thou blazon'ſt / In theſe two Princely Boyes: they are as gentle / As Zephires blowing below the Violet, / Not wagging his ſweet head; [...]1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
    • The eaſterly or trade winds, which generally blow between the Tropics, are extremely refreſhing to the coaſt of Guiana, between the hours of eight or ten in the morning, and ſix o'clock in the evening, when they ceaſe to operate, and a zephyr is ſcarcely ever heard to whiſper during the night.1796, J[ohn] G[abriel] Stedman, chapter II, in Narrative of a Five Years’ Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the Wild Coast of South America; […], volume I, London...
  3. Anything of fine, soft, or light quality, especially fabric.
    • The world hummed and spun about him. There was a whirling of zephyr skirts, four impassioned faces sweeping towards the open door of the passage that ran through the vicarage. He felt his position went with them.1895, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “At the Vicarage. Chapter X.”, in The Wonderful Visit (Macmillan’s Colonial Library), London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 39
  4. A type of soft confectionery made by whipping fruit and berry purée (mostly apple purée) with sugar and egg whites with subsequent addition of a gelling agent like pectin, carrageenan, agar, or gelatine.
    • In 1953 the Russian Republic Ministry of the Food Products Industry increased confectionery output 10% above 1952, including wrapped and packaged confectionery 46%, chocolates 57%, toffee 65%, fruit preserves, pastilles and Zephyrs 20% and halva—by 36%.1954, The Current Digest of the Soviet Press, volume 6, American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, page 11, column 1
    • The French not only vastly expanded the Russian repertory of sauces, but they also introduced an entirely new range of light, airy desserts including creams, zephyrs, and mousses.1992, Joyce Toomre, “[Introduction] French Influence on Russian Cuisine”, in Classic Russian Cooking: Elena Molokhovets’ A Gift to Young Housewives (Indiana-Michigan Series in Russian and East...

Verb

zephyr (third-person singular simple present zephyrs, present participle zephyring, simple past and past participle zephyred)

  1. (intransitive, poetic) To blow or move like a zephyr, or light breeze.
    • There was a time
      When the soft zephyring spring came joyfully,
      Like a young bride, with bloom upon her cheek—1879, Robert Stephen Hawker, “An Inscription for an Aged Oak”, in The Poetical Works, London: The Bodley Head, page 171
    • There was a sudden scrambling and thumping overhead and hot exclamations zephyred down to them.1908, Clarence E. Mulford, chapter 4, in The Coming of Hopalong Cassidy, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, page 60
  2. (poetic, transitive) To blow or blow on gently like a zephyr; to cool or refresh with a gentle breeze.
    • He was a fragrant poison, a zephyred pestilence spread through all the city.1849, letter from Leonidas Lent Hamline dated 15 December, 1849, in Walter Clark Palmer, Life and Letters of Leonidas L. Hamline, D.D., New York: Carlton & Porter, 1866, Chapter 15, p. 361
    • Ah, but the skies are joyous in the spring,
      From dawn to dusk exuberantly blue;
      White-tufted oftentimes with clouds that do
      But wanton in heaven’s zephyred merrying!1914, Leonard Lanson Cline, untitled sonnet in Poems, Boston: The Poet Lore Company, p. 76

Proper noun capitalized: Zephyr

Zephyr

  1. (Greek) The god of the West Wind.
    • For a Tempeſt. Take Eurus, Zephyr, Auſter and Boreas, and caſt them together in one Verſe. Add to theſe of Rain, Lightning, and of Thunder (the loudeſt you can) quantum ſufficit. Mix your Clouds and Billows well together till they foam, and thicken your Deſcription here and there with a Quickſand....1714 June 10, [Alexander Pope], The Guardian, volume I, number 78, London: Printed for J[acob] Tonson, at Shakespear's-Head over-against Catherine-street in the Strand, page 332
  2. (poetic) The west wind personified.
  3. A surname.
    • Even as her Republican peers sought to isolate her in the wake of her impassioned comments against a proposed ban on what doctors call gender-affirming medical care for children, Ms. Zephyr said she would not remain idle.2023 April 27, Jim Robbins, Mike Baker, Jacey Fortin, “A Transgender Lawmaker Is Exiled as Montana G.O.P. Flexes New Power”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 30 Apr 2023

zephyr meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

zephyr in Hindi

light refreshing wind; a gentle breeze — see also breeze
समीर samīr

zephyr in Tamil

இதமான, மெல்லிய, மேற்குத் திசையிலிருந்து வீசும் காற்று, இளங்காற்று, பலவகைப்பட்ட, மிகக்குறைந்த எடையுள்ள துணிவகை

zephyr in Urdu

باد نسیم, باد صبا, باد مغرب, پچھوا

zephyr in Bengali

পশ্চিমা মৃদু বাতাস
More languagesFewer languages
zephyr in Kannada
ಮಂದ ಮಾರುತ, ತಂಗಾಳಿ, ಪಡುವಣ ಗಾಳಿ, ಪಡುಗಾಳಿ
zephyr in Persian
باد فرودین bâd-e forudin, باد دبور bâd-e dabur

Examples of zephyr in a sentence

  • The dusk of evening came on, soft in its solemnity, and unoppressive even in its gloom, under the sweet sky and unmolested zephyr, casting its pleasant shadows along the edges of the grove.1835, William Gilmore Simms, The Partisan, Harper, Chapter XI, page 135:
  • Euroclydon, nevertheless, is a mighty pleasant zephyr to any one in-doors, with his feet on the hob quietly toasting for bed.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Carpet-bag”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers...
  • For desserts there were “airy pie,” charlottes, mousses, kissel, plombir and “zephyrs.”2003, Valentina Antonievna Seletzky, “The Evgoschino Interlude”, in Mosaic: A Child’s Recollections of the Russian Revolution, Lincoln...
  • 2 tablespoons beet juice (optional—include it if you’re nostalgic for pink zephyr)2017, Bonnie Frumkin Morales with Deena Prichep, “Zephyr”, in Kachka: A Return to Russian Cooking, New York, N.Y.: Flatiron Books, →ISBN:

All 10 example sentences with zephyr

Synonyms of zephyr

Forms of zephyr

Noun
pluralzephyrs
alternative form (archaic)zephir
Verb
third-person singular presentzephyrs
present participlezephyring
past participlezephyred
pastzephyred
Proper noun
alternative formZephyrus

Plural of zephyr: zephyrs

Origin of zephyr

From Latin zephyrus (“west wind”), from Ancient Greek Ζέφυρος (Zéphuros). Doublet of zefir, zéphire, Zephyr, and Zephyrus. The confectionery sense is a semantic loan from Russian зефи́р (zefír).

From Ancient Greek Ζέφυρος (Zéphuros).

Words formed from zephyr

Phrases with zephyr

Words that rhyme with zephyr

Questions about zephyr

What does zephyr mean?
Zephyr means a light wind from the west.
What is zephyr in Hindi?
Zephyr in Hindi is समीर (samīr). See Zephyr meaning in Hindi.
How do you use zephyr in a sentence?
The dusk of evening came on, soft in its solemnity, and unoppressive even in its gloom, under the sweet sky and unmolested zephyr, casting its pleasant shadows along the edges of the grove.
What part of speech is zephyr?
Zephyr can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce zephyr?
Zephyr is pronounced /ˈzɛfə(ɹ)/ (UK).
What is the plural of zephyr?
The plural of zephyr is zephyrs.

Words near zephyr in the dictionary

  1. Zephead
  2. Zepheads
  3. Zephier
  4. zephir
  5. zephirs
  6. zephyr
  7. zephyr cloth
  8. Zephyr Cove
  9. zephyr lilies
  10. zephyr lily
  11. zephyranth

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: zephyr (page history and authors); Zephyr (page history and authors); zephyr (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); zephyr (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); zephyr (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); zephyr (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). 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-us-zephyr.ogg.

Cite this entry: “zephyr.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/zephyr. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.