zebra

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A wild African animal like a horse, with black and white stripes.

   I saw some zebras at the zoo.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Zebra entered English in the early 16th century through Italian, Spanish, or Portuguese and ultimately derives from Latin equiferus, “wild horse,” containing equus, “horse.” It was once incorrectly thought to come from an African language.

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 Com…

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary