Z (letter): Difference between revisions
imported>Ro Thorpe |
imported>Ro Thorpe |
||
| Line 19: | Line 19: | ||
But: '''frêeze, frôze, mâze, dâze, crâze, glâze, dòze''' ''sleep'' (cf. '''dôse''' ''quantity'', unvoiced '''s'''). | But: '''frêeze, frôze, mâze, dâze, crâze, glâze, dòze''' ''sleep'' (cf. '''dôse''' ''quantity'', unvoiced '''s'''). | ||
Most words ending in -'''îse''' can also be spelt -'''îze''': '''émphasise''' or '''émphasize'''; but since -'''îze''' is never found in '''advîse, ádvertise, comprîse, cómpromise, despîse, éxercise, surmîse''', or '''surprîse''' (*surprîze appears as late as [[Jane Austen]], but no later) it seems wiser and easier to spell them all -'''îse'''. | |||
z does not begin clusters, so for example there is no zd- equivalent of st- as in some languages: s is used instead, as in mesméric. | z does not begin clusters, so for example there is no zd- equivalent of st- as in some languages: s is used instead, as in mesméric. | ||
Revision as of 09:50, 17 December 2008
Z is the twenty-sixth and last letter of the English alphabet. Its name is zed in British English and zee in American.
A lower case z is the symbol for redshift.
Use in English
z is a buzzing sound (which in English is actually more usually encountered as final s in words like hís, stŏries, dógs, hánds, líves, lîves). Examples (the accents show stress and pronunciation: see English phonemes): zíp, Azerbaijàn, quíz, púzzle, hâzy.
It is often doubled, especially at the end of monosyllables: fízz, búzz, whízz, jázz, fúzz and thus before certain endings: fízzle, dázzle, nózzle, embézzle, búzzer, búzzing, whízzed, jázzy, fúzzy.
There is no clear rule about doubling it: it is always doubled before -er as in búzzer, and also in búzzard and blízzard, but not in házard, lízard or wízard.
Winston Churchill used the simple z sound in Nàzi, presumably to show contempt for the German language: in English it is usually pronounced *nàhtsêe (cf. BrE nàsty), the preceding t making z unvoiced, a hiss; this is heard in other words from German such as quårtz (*kwŏrts) and Kátz person (= cáts animals) while in wåltz (*wålse) the t is silent. This ts is also the sound of zz in Italian words: pìzza (*pêetsə), piázza (*piátsə), paparázzi (*paparátsy).
In ázure, z can sound like z plus y plus û, but more often is heard with the zh sound - which is actually written as such in foreign - especially Russian - words: Brézhnev - but is more often written s before i or u: vísion, lêsion, pléasure, méasure, Âsian.
At the end of a word with silent e, s is more common: nôse, nŏise, clôse shut, phâse, plêase (cf. crêase, grêase, which have the hissing s sound).
But: frêeze, frôze, mâze, dâze, crâze, glâze, dòze sleep (cf. dôse quantity, unvoiced s).
Most words ending in -îse can also be spelt -îze: émphasise or émphasize; but since -îze is never found in advîse, ádvertise, comprîse, cómpromise, despîse, éxercise, surmîse, or surprîse (*surprîze appears as late as Jane Austen, but no later) it seems wiser and easier to spell them all -îse.
z does not begin clusters, so for example there is no zd- equivalent of st- as in some languages: s is used instead, as in mesméric.
There are redundant French z’s in lâissèz-fãire (*lày-sày-fãir) and rendezvous (*róndâyvoô).