zebra

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   any of several fleet black-and-white striped African equines

   I saw some zebras at the zoo.

2. 2
   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.

   A group of zebras can be called a dazzle.

3. 3
   noun

   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 looking for the obvious when I should have been looking for the zebra! George is just having an allergic reaction to a combination of chemicals from all the stains and paints he's been using in the garage."

4. 4
   noun

   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.

5. 5
   noun

   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.”

6. 6
   noun

   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 . . .

7. 7
   noun

   A referee.

8. 8
   noun

   A zebra cichlid (Amatitlania nigrofasciata).

Etymology

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…