ze

ze

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ze"

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /zə/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ə

Article

ze

1. Nonstandard spelling of the (usually signifying a foreign accent, often French or German).
   • 1992, Tristan Jones, Adrift, page 257:

     Then one French-American sous-chef, still in his white kitchen gear, climbed down from the cockpit, where he had been inspecting the cabin, peering inside, murmuring, "wonderfool–wonderfool, ze workmansheep!"

   Synonym: za

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ziː/
• Rhymes: -iː

Pronoun

ze

1. (rare, nonstandard) a gender-neutral third-person singular subject pronoun, equivalent to singular they, and coordinate with gendered pronouns he and she.
   • 1996 June, Sullivan, Caitlin; Bornstein, Kate, Nearly Roadkill: an Infobahn erotic adventure‎, New York: Serpent's Tail, →ISBN, LCCN 95072971, OL 820831M, LCC PS3569.U3449 N43 1996, page 10:

     But I do know what sex ze is. It used to influence me. But now I talk to hir like a normal person. I mean, without thinking about what ze is.

   • 1997 December 18, Bornstein, Kate, My Gender Workbook: How to Become a Real Man, a Real Woman, the Real You, or Something Else Entirely, London, New York: Routledge, →ISBN, LCCN 98134184, OL 7495768M, LCC HQ1075.B69 1998, page 130:

     A case in point is Tula, a transgendered woman who for years lived well as a model and actress until ze was outed in both national and international media.

   • 2006 March 22, Feinberg, Leslie, Drag King Dreams, New York: Carroll & Graf, →ISBN, LCCN 2006297545, OL 17890120M, LCC PS3556.E427 D73 2006, page 205:

     Ze takes my right hand in hirs and folds it into a fist.

   • 2010 October 12, Lopez, Erika, The Girl Must Die: A Monster Girl Memoir, Hicken, Jeffrey, San Francisco: Monster Girl Media, →ISBN, LCCN 21010902427, page 143:

     Ze changed hir name to one of those New Testament names, and re-fashioned hirself into a soft, puffy, half-finished hermaphrodite nicknamed, The Pop n' Fresh Doe.

   • 2011 March 15, Locke, M. J., Up Against It, New York: Tor, →ISBN, LCCN 2010036538, OL 24494916M, LCC PS3612.O249 U7 2011, page 361:

     Hir face was implacable, but ze dashed away in tears.

Usage notes

• The genderqueer community are the primary proponents of ze. One refers to a person with ze and hir or zir typically (a) when their gender is unknown, and one wishes to avoid assuming their gender, or (b) when they are neither male nor female in gender, making he and she (and also either/or terms like s/he or (s)he) inappropriate and potentially hurtful.

Synonyms

• see Appendix:English third-person singular pronouns

Coordinate terms

• hir, hirs, hirself
• zir, zirs, zirself

See also

• other attested gender-neutral pronouns

Noun

ze (plural zes)

1. The name of the Cyrillic script letter З / з.

Anagrams

• EZ, Ez.

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Albanian

Etymology

A Gheg dialect word, of unclear origin.

Noun

ze f (indefinite plural ze, definite singular zeja, definite plural zejet)

1. soul

Related terms

• zemër

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Aukan

Etymology

From Dutch zee (“sea”).

Noun

ze

1. the sea, the ocean

References

• Aukan-English Dictionary (SIL)

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Basque

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s̻e/, [s̻e̞]

Noun

ze inan

1. The name of the Latin-script letter C.

Declension

Declension of ze (inanimate, ending in vowel)
	indefinite	singular	plural
absolutive	ze	zea	zeak
ergative	zek	zeak	zeek
dative	zeri	zeari	zeei
genitive	zeren	zearen	zeen
comitative	zerekin	zearekin	zeekin
causative	zerengatik	zearengatik	zeengatik
benefactive	zerentzat	zearentzat	zeentzat
instrumental	zez	zeaz	zeez
inessive	zetan	zean	zeetan
locative	zetako	zeko	zeetako
allative	zetara	zera	zeetara
terminative	zetaraino	zeraino	zeetaraino
directive	zetarantz	zerantz	zeetarantz
destinative	zetarako	zerako	zeetarako
ablative	zetatik	zetik	zeetatik
partitive	zerik	—	—
prolative	zetzat	—	—

See also

• (Latin-script letter names) a, be, ze, de, e, efe, ge, hatxe, i, jota, ka, ele, eme, ene, eñe, o, pe, ku, erre, ese, te, u, uve, uve bikoitz, ixa, i greko, zeta

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Cimbrian

Etymology 1

From Middle High German si(e) (“they”), merged from Old High German sie m pl, sio f pl, siu n pl, from Proto-Germanic *īz m, *ijôz f, *ijō n, the nominative plural forms of *iz. Cognate with German sie, Dutch zij.

Pronoun

ze

1. (Sette Comuni) they

   Synonym: zandare

Inflection

Cimbrian personal pronouns

		nominative	accusative	dative
1st person singular		ich	mich	miar
2nd person singular	familiar	du	dich	diar
	polite	iart	ach	òich
3rd person singular	m	èar, ar	in, en	iime
	f	zi, ze		iar
	n	es, is	es, 's	iime
1st person plural		bar, bandare	zich	izàndarn
2nd person plural		iart, iartàndare, artàndare	òich, ach	ogàndarn
3rd person plural		ze, zòi, zandare	zich	innàndarn

Alternative forms

• se (Luserna)
• zòi

Pronoun

ze

1. Alternative form of zi (“she”)

References

• “ze” in Martalar, Umberto Martello; Bellotto, Alfonso (1974) Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo

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Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈzɛ]

• audio

  (file)

Preposition

ze

1. from

Usage notes

This preposition is followed by the genitive case.

Synonyms

• z

Further reading

• ze in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• ze in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /zə/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ze
• Rhymes: -ə

Pronoun

ze

1. Unstressed form of zij (feminine singular subject)

   Daar zit ze. ― There she is sitting.

2. Unstressed form of zij (plural subject)

   Daar zitten ze. ― There they are sitting.

3. Unstressed form of haar (feminine singular object)

   Ik zie ze. ― I see her.

4. Unstressed form of hen, hun (plural object)

   Ik zie ze. ― I see them.

Usage notes

• In the Netherlands, ze is used as a reduced form of haar chiefly when referring to feminine inanimate things:

Ik wist de waarheid niet en ik wilde ze ook niet weten.

I didn’t know the truth and didn’t wish to know it either.

It is often avoided by using the reduced form h'r or the masculine form hem or the neuter form het or, in formal style, the full form haar.

• In Belgium, ze is usual as a reduced form of haar even when referring to persons (as in the example further above).
• Ze is used in certain short and idiomatic phrases in the imperative wishing one good luck, the most common by far being werk ze (“good luck at work!”).

Inflection

Dutch personal pronouns

	subject		object		possessive			reflexive	genitive5
singular	full	unstr.	full	unstr.	full	unstr.	pred.
1st person	ik	'k1	mij	me	mijn	m'n1	mijne	me	mijner, mijns
2nd person	jij	je	jou	je	jouw	je	jouwe	je	jouwer, jouws
2nd person archaic or regiolectal	gij	ge	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u	uwer, uws
2nd person formal	u	–	u	–	uw	–	uwe	zich	uwer, uws
3rd person masculine	hij	ie1	hem	'm1	zijn	z'n1	zijne	zich	zijner, zijns
3rd person feminine	zij	ze	haar	h'r1, 'r1, d'r1	haar	h'r1, 'r1, d'r1	hare	zich	harer, haars
3rd person neuter	het	't1	het	't1	zijn	z'n1	zijne	zich	zijner, zijns
plural
1st person	wij	we	ons	–	ons, onze2	–	onze	ons	onzer, onzes
2nd person	jullie	je	jullie	je	jullie	je	–	je	–
2nd person archaic or regiolectal6	gij	ge	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u	uwer, uws
2nd person formal	u	–	u	–	uw	–	uwe	zich	uwer, uws
3rd person	zij	ze	hen3, hun4	ze	hun	–	hunne	zich	hunner, huns
1) Not as common in written language. 2) Inflected as an adjective. 3) In prescriptivist use, used only as direct object (accusative). 4) In prescriptivist use, used only as indirect object (dative).				5) Archaic. Nowadays used for formal, literary or poetic purposes, and in fixed expressions. 6) To differentiate from the singular gij, and in a similar vein to "you lot" or "you guys" in English, it is common to use gijlui ("you people") or gijlieden ("you people") or one of their contracted variants, and their corresponding objects, possessives and reflexives, in the plural.

Derived terms

• werk ze

Descendants

• Javindo: se
• Jersey Dutch: zê, sê

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Gun

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /zé/

Verb

zé

1. to take

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Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French œufs (“eggs”). In French, the plural form œufs is commonly preceded by a determiner- such as aux, les or mes- whose final s or x is pronounced /z/ before vowels (and is otherwise silent). As a result, œufs was reanalyzed in Haitian Creole as beginning with /z/.

Noun

ze

1. egg

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Ido

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ze/, /zɛ/

Noun

ze (plural ze-i)

1. The name of the Latin script letter Z/z.

See also

• (Latin script letter names) litero; a, be, ce, che, de, e, fe, ge, he, i, je, ke, le, me, ne, o, pe, que, re, se, she, te, u, ve, we, xe, ye, ze ^{(Category: io:Latin letter names)}

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Japanese

Romanization

ze

1. Rōmaji transcription of ぜ
2. Rōmaji transcription of ゼ

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Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /zɛ/

Preposition

ze

1. Alternative form of z (both meanings; used before sibilants and certain consonant clusters)

   Stej bratš ze sotšu. ― They are brother and sister (lit. ‘brother with sister’).

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Luxembourgish

Alternative forms

• zu (for the adverb, when stressed)

Etymology

From Middle High German ze, from Old High German zi, from Proto-Germanic *ta, reduced form of *tō, whence Luxembourgish zu and zou.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tse/, [t͡sə]

• Audio

  (file)

Preposition

ze

1. to (with a following infinitive)

   De Kaffi ass ze waarm fir ze drénken.

   The coffee is too hot to drink.

Adverb

ze

1. too (more than enough, when unstressed)

   De Kaffi ass ze waarm fir ze drénken.

   The coffee is too hot to drink.

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Mandarin

Romanization

ze

1. Nonstandard spelling of zé.
2. Nonstandard spelling of zè.

Usage notes

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

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Middle English

Etymology

From Old English sǣ.

Noun

ze

1. Alternative form of see (“sea”)

Descendants

• English: sea

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Northern Qiang

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *rəj.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tsə/

Noun

ze

1. water

References

Zhou Facheng; Sun Hongkai (2010) 汉羌词典 (Han-Qiang cidian) [Chinese-Qiang dictionary], Beijing: 中国文联出版社, →ISBN

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Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /zɛ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛ
• Syllabification: ze

Preposition

ze

1. Alternative form of z

Particle

ze

1. (colloquial) Alternative form of z

Usage notes

See z.

Further reading

• ze in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• ze in Polish dictionaries at PWN

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Saterland Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian [Term?], from Proto-West Germanic *sī. Cognates include West Frisian sy and German sie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /zə/

Pronoun

ze

1. unstressed form of ju (“she”)
2. unstressed form of jo (“they”)

See also

Saterland Frisian personal pronouns

	singular					plural
	1st	2nd	3rd m	3rd f	3rd n	1st	2nd	3rd
stressed	iek	du	hie	ju	dät	wie	jie	jo
unstressed			er	ze	et			ze
objective	mie	die	him	hier	dät	uus	jou	hier

References

• Marron C. Fort (2015), “ze”, in Saterfriesisches Wörterbuch mit einer phonologischen und grammatischen Übersicht, Buske, →ISBN

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Turkish

Noun

ze (definite accusative zeyi, plural zeler)

1. The name of the Latin-script letter Z.

See also

• (Latin-script letter names) harf; a, be, ce, çe, de, e, fe, ge, yumuşak ge, he, ı, i, je, ke, le, me, ne, o, ö, pe, re, se, şe, te, u, ü, ve, ye, ze

Etymology 2

From Arabic زَاي‎ (zāy).

Noun

ze

1. Letter of the Arabic alphabet: ز

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Turkmen

Noun

ze (definite accusative [[{{{1}}}#Turkmen|?]], plural [[{{{2}}}#Turkmen|?]])

1. The name of the Latin-script letter Z.

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White Hmong

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʐe˧/

Adjective

ze

1. near

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Xhosa

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Relative

-ze^?

1. naked

   Synonym: -ntswempu

Inflection

Relative concord
	Modifier		Copulative
	positive	negative	positive	negative
1st singular	endize	endingeze	ndize	andize
2nd singular	oze	ongeze	uze	awuze
1st plural	esize	esingeze	size	asize
2nd plural	enize	eningeze	nize	anize
Class 1	oze	ongeze	uze	akaze
Class 2	abaze	abangeze	baze	abaze
Class 3	oze	ongeze	uze	awuze
Class 4	eze	engeze	ize	ayize
Class 5	elize	elingeze	lize	alize
Class 6	aze	angeze	aze	awaze
Class 7	esize	esingeze	size	asize
Class 8	ezize	ezingeze	zize	azize
Class 9	eze	engeze	ize	ayize
Class 10	ezize	ezingeze	zize	azize
Class 11	oluze	olungeze	luze	aluze
Class 14	obuze	obungeze	buze	abuze
Class 15	okuze	okungeze	kuze	akuze
Class 17	okuze	okungeze	kuze	akuze

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Yola

Verb

ze

1. Alternative form of zee (“to see”)

References

• Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 81

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Zazaki

Adverb

ze

1. same

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Zulu

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /zé/

Relative

-zé

1. empty
2. naked

Inflection

Relative concord, tone H
	Modifier		Copulative
	positive	negative	positive	negative
1st singular	engize	engingeze	ngize	angize
2nd singular	oze	ongeze	uze	awuze
1st plural	esize	esingeze	size	asize
2nd plural	enize	eningeze	nize	anize
Class 1	oze	ongeze	uze	akaze
Class 2	abaze	abangeze	baze	abaze
Class 3	oze	ongeze	uze	awuze
Class 4	eze	engeze	ize	ayize
Class 5	elize	elingeze	lize	alize
Class 6	aze	angeze	aze	awaze
Class 7	esize	esingeze	size	asize
Class 8	ezize	ezingeze	zize	azize
Class 9	eze	engeze	ize	ayize
Class 10	ezize	ezingeze	zize	azize
Class 11	oluze	olungeze	luze	aluze
Class 14	obuze	obungeze	buze	abuze
Class 15	okuze	okungeze	kuze	akuze
Class 17	okuze	okungeze	kuze	akuze

Derived terms

• ize
• ubuze

Etymology 2

From -za (“to come”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ze/

Verb

-ze

1. (auxiliary, in positive) until [+subjunctive]

   Sizolinda baze bafike.

   We will wait until they arrive.

   Sakhuluma waze wafika uthisha.

   We talked until the teacher arrived.

2. (auxiliary, in positive, past) used in exclamations [+subjunctive]

   Waze wamuhle umakoti!

   Oh how beautiful the bride is!

3. (auxiliary, in negative, present) never [+potential]

   Angize ngingadla inyama.

   I never eat meat.

4. (auxiliary, in negative, past) never [+subjunctive]

   Akazange agibele ihhashi.

   He has never ridden a horse.

Inflection

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

References

C. M. Doke; B. W. Vilakazi (1972), “-ze”, in Zulu-English Dictionary, →ISBN: “-ze”