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zebra

Pronunciation: /ˈzɛb.ɹə/

The English word “zebra” has 9 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. Any of three species of subgenus Hippotigris: Equus grevyi, Equus quagga, or Equus zebra, all with black and white stripes and native to Africa.
  2. A referee.
  3. An unlikely diagnosis, especially for symptoms probably caused by a common ailment.
  4. Someone who has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or hypermobility spectrum disorder
  5. A biracial person, specifically one born to a Sub-Saharan African person and a white person.
  6. A zebra cichlid (Amatitlania nigrofasciata).
  7. Any of various papilionid butterflies of the subgenus Paranticopsis of the genus Graphium, having black and white markings.
  8. A zebra crossing.
  9. A fairy chess piece that is moved three squares in one direction and two at right angles to that direction in a single move, leaping over any intervening pieces.

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…

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