zee, n.

zee
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zee_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zeenoun

## Earlier version

- zee in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zee mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zee. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

This word is used in U.S. English.

### How common is the noun zee?

About 0.1occurrences per million words in modern written English

1750 | 0.087
1760 | 0.095
1770 | 0.098
1780 | 0.16
1790 | 0.21
1800 | 0.22
1810 | 0.22
1820 | 0.22
1830 | 0.18
1840 | 0.13
1850 | 0.14
1860 | 0.14
1870 | 0.15
1880 | 0.17
1890 | 0.16
1900 | 0.15
1910 | 0.16
1920 | 0.16
1930 | 0.14
1940 | 0.14
1950 | 0.13
1960 | 0.12
1970 | 0.12
1980 | 0.12
1990 | 0.13
2000 | 0.14
2010 | 0.14

### How is the noun zee pronounced?

#### British English

/ziː/
zee

#### U.S. English

/zi/
zee

### Where does the noun zee come from?

Earliest known use

late 1500s

The earliest known use of the noun zee is in the late 1500s.

OED's earliest evidence for zee is from 1580, in the writing of William Bullokar, spelling reformer and grammarian.

zee is apparently a variant or alteration of another lexical item.

Etymons: zed n.

### Nearby entries

1. zebrine, adj. a1810–
2. zebroid, adj. & n. 1881–
3. zebrule, n. 1899–
4. zebu, n. 1771–
5. zecchino, n. 1572–
6. Zechstein, n. 1798–
7. zed, n. c1175–
8. zedbed, n. 1954–
9. zedoary, n. Old English–
10. zedonk, n. 1961–
11. zee, n.1580–
12. Zeelander, n. c1400–
13. Zeelandic, adj. 1802–
14. Zeelandish, adj. 1593–
15. Zeeman, n. 1897–
16. zeep, n. 1878–
17. zeep, v. 1886–
18. zeeping, adj. 1895–
19. zef, adj. 1990–
20. zegadine, n. 1651–
21. zeilanite, n. 1815–

## Etymology

### Summary

Apparently a variant or alteration of another lexical item.
Etymon: zed n.
Apparently an alteration of zed n. after other letter names in ‑ee, such as bee B n., cee C n., dee D n.

## Meaning & use

Chiefly U.S. after 17th cent.

1. 1580–
   (A name for) the letter Z, z, the last letter of the alphabet in English and other modern languages (see Z n.).
   In most English-speaking areas outside the United States the usual word is zed; cf. zed n.
   1. 1580

      > The names of the letters next before shewed, appeere in this Table following... zee z.

      W. Bullokar, Bk. at Large 21
   2. 1654

      > Z Zee The noise of hot iron in water.

      R. Lloyd, Schoole-masters Auxiliaries 5
   3. 1677

      > Zz zee Z-eal, thou shalt be my charret, whilst I ride, Elijah-like, with Word and Spirit, my Guide.

      T. Lye, New Spelling Bk. ii. 5
   4. 1797

      > Younker, yield to yawning, yea—Zounds, I'm safe at zigzag zee.

      Farmer's Weekly Museum 28 March 4/1
   5. 1828

      > Z... It is pronounced zee.

      N. Webster, American Dictionary of English Language
   6. 1882

      > The name..given to the last letter of the alphabet..in New England is always zee; in the South it is zed.

      E. A. Freeman in Longman's Magazine November 94
   7. 1953

      > Last summer a song that had great popularity went right through a 'lover's alphabet' and, obviously originating in America, it gave the name ‘zee’ to the last letter.

      Manchester Guardian 20 February 3/5
   8. 2013

      > I know how you people spell things! What is this aversion you Brits have to the letter Zee?

      I. Hunter, Conversations iv. 53
   U.S. English
   1. zed c1175–
      (A name for) the letter Z, z, the last letter of the alphabet in English and other modern languages (see Z, n.).
   2. zee 1580–
      (A name for) the letter Z, z, the last letter of the alphabet in English and other modern languages (see Z, n.).
   3. izzard 1597–
      Old name for the letter Z.
   4. zad 1669–
      Name of the letter Z; hence (slang) applied to a thing or person of crooked form. (Cf. zard izzard, n. Forms.)
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ziː/
zee

### U.S. English

/zi/
zee

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye*
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

* /d/ also represents a 'tapped' /t/ as in

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- ifleece, happy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- ætrap, bath
- ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
- ɑrstart
- ɔcloth, thought
- ɔrnorth, force
- ʊfoot
- ugoose
- əstrut, comma
- ərnurse, letter
- ɪ(ə)rnear
- ɛ(ə)rsquare
- ʊ(ə)rcure
- eɪface
- aɪpride
- aʊmouth
- oʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ɑ̃gratin
- æ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.

##### Consonants

b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values

- gguy
- jjay
- yyore
- chchore
- khloch
- shshore
- ththaw
- dhthee
- zhbeige

##### Vowels

- atrap
- ahpalm
- airsquare
- arstart
- arrcarry (British only)
- awthought
- ayface
- a(ng)gratin
- edress
- eefleece
- eerdeer
- errmerry
- ikit
- ighpride
- irrmirror
- olot (British only)
- ohgoat
- oogoose
- oorcure
- orforce
- orrsorry (British only)
- owmouth
- oyvoice
- o(ng)salon
- ustrut
- uhletter
- urnurse
- urrhurry
- uufoot

## Frequency

zee typically occurs about 0.1 times per million words in modern written English.

zee is in frequency band 4, which contains words occurring between 0.1 and 1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands

Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zee, n., 1750–2010

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.

The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.

For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.

Decade | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
1750 | 0.087
1760 | 0.095
1770 | 0.098
1780 | 0.16
1790 | 0.21
1800 | 0.22
1810 | 0.22
1820 | 0.22
1830 | 0.18
1840 | 0.13
1850 | 0.14
1860 | 0.14
1870 | 0.15
1880 | 0.17
1890 | 0.16
1900 | 0.15
1910 | 0.16
1920 | 0.16
1930 | 0.14
1940 | 0.14
1950 | 0.13
1960 | 0.12
1970 | 0.12
1980 | 0.12
1990 | 0.13
2000 | 0.14
2010 | 0.14

### Frequency of zee, n., 2017–2024

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Modern frequency series are derived from a corpus of 20 billion words, covering the period from 2017 to the present. The corpus is mainly compiled from online news sources, and covers all major varieties of World English.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the corpus.

Period | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
2017 | 0.25
2018 | 0.23
2019 | 0.27
2020 | 0.29
2021 | 0.3
2022 | 0.3
2023 | 0.34
2024 | 0.31

zee, n. was revised in June 2018.

zee, n. was last modified in July 2023.