zebra

zebra

See also: Zebra, zébra, zebră, zebrā, zebrą, żebra, and žebra

English

Zebra

Etymology

1600; borrowed from Italian zebra, from Portuguese zebra, zebro (“zebra”), from Old 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”).(Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

(biracial person): The term zebra, as used in its pejorative sense, was popularized on the television situation comedy The Jeffersons. The term was used by the series protagonist, George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley), to express disdain for his daughter-in-law, Jenny Willis Jefferson, whose father was white and mother was black.

While the word was traditionally pronounced with a long initial vowel in standard English, during the twentieth century a vowel shift occurred in regions of England, with the adoption of an initial short vowel.[1] This pronunciation is now used throughout the UK and most Commonwealth nations. The long vowel pronunciation remains standard in Canadian and American English.

(referee): In reference to the black and white striped shirts they wear.

Pronunciation

• (UK, Commonwealth) IPA^(key): /ˈzɛbɹə/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

  • Hyphenation: zeb‧ra
• (Canadian, US and traditional British English) IPA^(key): /ˈziːbɹə/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

  • Hyphenation: ze‧bra
• Rhymes: (UK, Commonwealth) -ɛbɹə, -iːbɹə

Noun

zebra (plural zebra or zebras)

1. Any of three species of subgenus Hippotigris: E. grevyi, E. quagga, or E. zebra, all with black and white stripes and native to Africa.
2. (sports, slang) A referee.
3. (medicine, slang) An unlikely diagnosis, especially for symptoms probably caused by a common ailment. (Originates in the advice often given to medical students: "when you hear hoofbeats, think of horses, not zebras".)
4. (vulgar, derogatory, slang, ethnic slur) A biracial person, specifically one born to a member of the Sub-Saharan African race and a Caucasian.
5. (informal) A fish, the zebra cichlid.
6. Any of various papilionid butterflies of the subgenus Paranticopsis of the genus Graphium, having black and white markings.
7. A zebra crossing.
   • 2010, Mick Herron, Slow Horses, page 247:

     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 . . .

Hyponyms

• (animal of genus Equus): Burchell's zebra, Grevy's zebra, quagga, plains zebra, mountain zebra
• (unlikely diagnosis): fascinoma

Derived terms

• Burchell's zebra (Equus quagga burchellii)
• common zebra (Equus quagga)
• Grévy's zebra
• Grevy's zebra (Equus grevyi)
• mountain zebra (Equus zebra)
• Persian zebra (Equus hermionus onager)
• plains zebra (Equus quagga
• zebra acara (Nannacara adoketa)
• zebra butterfly (Heliconius charithonia)
• zebra cake
• zebra caterpillar (Melanchra picta)
• zebra cichlid (Amatitlania nigrofasciata)
• zebra crossing
• zebra danio (Danio rerio)
• zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata)
• zebrafish
• zebra fish (Danio rerio)
• zebra haworthia (Haworthiopsis attenuata)
• zebraic
• zebralike
• zebra lionfish (Dendrochirus zebra)
• zebra mongoose (Mungos mungo)
• zebra mule
• zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha)
• zebra opossum (†Thylacinus cynocephalus)
• zebra parakeet
• zebra parrot (Melopsittacus undulatus)
• zebra plant
• zebra poison (Euphorbia arborea)
• zebra shark (Stegostoma fasciatum)
• zebra spider (Salticus scenicus)
• zebrass
• zebra striping
• zebra swallowtail (Protographium marcellus)
• zebra turkeyfish (Dendrochirus zebra)
• zebra wolf (†Thylacinus cynocephalus)
• zebrawood (Microberlinia spp., etc.)
• zebrine
• zebroid
• zeedonk
• zeehorse
• zorse

 

Translations

African animal

Afrikaans: sebra (af) Albanian: zebër (sq) m Amharic: የሜዳ አህያ (yämeda ʾähya) Arabic: حِمَار وَحْشِيّ‎ m (ḥimār waḥšiyy), حِمَار وَحْشِيّ مُخَطَّط‎ m (ḥimār waḥšiyy muḵaṭṭaṭ), حِمَار الزَّرَد‎ m (ḥimār az-zarad) Aragonese: zebra Armenian: զեբր (hy) (zebr), (rare) վագրաձի (hy) (vagraji) Assamese: জেব্ৰা (zebra), জেবেৰা (zebera) Asturian: cebra (ast) f Azerbaijani: zebr (az), zebra (az) Basque: zebra (eu) Bau Bidayuh: kuda britik Belarusian: зе́бра f (zjébra) Bengali: জেবরা (bn) (jebôra) Brazilian Sign Language: CAVALO^LISTRA Breton: roudenneged (br) Bulgarian: зе́бра (bg) f (zébra) Burmese: မြင်းကျား (my) (mrang:kya:) Catalan: zebra (ca) f Central Melanau: kudak gahet Cherokee: ᏐᏈᎵ ᏧᎶᎸᏗ (soquili tsulolvdi), ᏐᏈᎵ ᏧᎵᏍᏆᏓᏃᎯ (soquili tsulisquadanohi) Cheyenne: nêškovávo'ha Chichewa: mbidzi Chinese: Cantonese: 斑馬, 斑马 (baan1 maa5) Hakka: 斑馬, 斑马 (pân-mâ) Mandarin: 斑馬／斑马 (zh) (bānmǎ), (obsolete) 福祿／福禄 (zh) (fúlù) Min Nan: 斑馬 (zh-min-nan), 斑马 (pan-má, pan-bé), 花條馬, 花条马 (hoe-tiâu-bé), 花斑馬, 花斑马 (hoe-pan-bé) Wu: 斑馬, 斑马 (pe ma) Cornish: zebra Czech: zebra (cs) f Danish: zebra (da) c Dhivehi: ޒިބްރާ‎ (zibrā) Dutch: zebra (nl) m Esperanto: zebro (eo) Estonian: sebra (et) Finnish: seepra (fi) French: zèbre (fr) m Galician: cebra (gl) f Georgian: ზებრა (zebra) German: Zebra (de) n, Tigerpferd (de) n Greek: ζέβρος (el) m (zévros), ζέβρα (el) f (zévra), όναγρος (el) m (ónagros) Greenlandic: siutituut nimeruaartut Hadza: dongo m, dongoko f, hantaii Haitian Creole: zèb Hebrew: זֶבְּרָה‎ (he) f (zébra) Hindi: ज़ीब्रा m (zībrā), ज़ेब्रा m (zebrā), जेबरा (hi) m (jebrā), जबरा (hi) m (jabrā), जेब्रा m (jebrā), गोरखर (hi) m (gorkhar) Hungarian: zebra (hu) Icelandic: sebrahestur (is) m Indonesian: zebra (id) Interlingua: zebra Irish: séabra Italian: zebra (it) Japanese: 縞馬 (ja) (しまうま, shimauma), シマウマ (ja) (shimauma), ゼブラ (zebura) Kazakh: зебір (zebır), зебра (zebra) Khmer: សេះបង្កង់ (seh bɑngkɑng) Khoekhoe: ǃgoreb Kongo: mbizi Korean: 얼룩말 (ko) (eollungmal) Koyraboro Senni: ganjifarka Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: zebra (ku) Kyrgyz: зебра (zebra) Ladin: zebra f Lao: ມ້າລາຍ (mā lāi) Latin: hippotīgris m or f Latvian: zebra (lv) f Limburgish: zaeber Lingala: zébélé Lithuanian: zebras (lt) m Luxembourgish: Zebra m Macedonian: зе́бра f (zébra) Malagasy: zebra (mg) Malay: kuda belang (ms), kuda habluk, kuda loreng Maori: hepara Mongolian: тахө (taxö), эрээн тахь (ereen taxʹ) Nahuatl: cebra Nandi: oloitigo Navajo: tééh łį́į́ʼ Nepali: जेब्रा (jebrā) Norman: zèbre m Northern Sotho: pitsi Norwegian: Bokmål: sebra (no) m Nynorsk: sebra m Oromo: harreddiidoo Papiamentu: zebra Pashto: بييی‎ (biyay) Persian: گورخر‎ (fa) (gurxar), زبرا‎ (zebrâ) Plautdietsch: Zeebra n Polish: zebra (pl) f Portuguese: zebra (pt) f Quechua: siwra Romanian: zebră (ro) f Russian: зе́бра (ru) f (zébra) Scottish Gaelic: asal-stiallach m or f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: зебра f Roman: zebra (sh) f Shona: mbizi Sindhi: زيبرو‎ (sd) m, زيبرِي‎ f Sinhalese: සීබ්‍රා (sībrā) Slovak: zebra (sk) f Slovene: zebra (sl) f Spanish: cebra (es) f Swahili: punda milia class 9/10 Swedish: zebra (sv) c, sebra (sv) c Tagalog: sebra Tajik: гӯрхар (gürxar), зебра (zebra) Tatar: зебра (zebra) Telugu: చారలగుర్రము (cāralagurramu) Thai: ม้าลาย (th) (máa-laai) Tibetan: རྐྱང་ཁྲ (rkyang khra) Tigrinya: ኣድጊ በረኻ (ʾadgi bäräxa), ዘብራ (zäbra) Turkish: zebra (tr) Turkmen: zebra Ukrainian: зе́бра f (zébra) Uzbek: zebra (uz) Venetian: xebra Veps: zebr Vietnamese: ngựa vằn (vi) (馭𤝋) Volapük: sebrad Welsh: sebra m Wolof: fasu àll wi Xhosa: iqwarhashe Yiddish: זעברע‎ (zebre) Yoruba: kẹ́tẹ́kẹ́tẹ́ abilà Zulu: idube (zu)

See also

• quagga
• Equus burchelli, Equus grevyi, Equus quagga, Equus zebra

References

1. Wells, John (1997), “Our changing pronunciation”, in Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Society‎, retrieved 6 February 2014, pages xix.42-48

Anagrams

• Zaber, braze

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Basque

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

zebra anim

1. zebra

Declension

Declension of zebra (animate, ending in -a)
	indefinite	singular	plural
absolutive	zebra	zebra	zebrak
ergative	zebrak	zebrak	zebrek
dative	zebrari	zebrari	zebrei
genitive	zebraren	zebraren	zebren
comitative	zebrarekin	zebrarekin	zebrekin
causative	zebrarengatik	zebrarengatik	zebrengatik
benefactive	zebrarentzat	zebrarentzat	zebrentzat
instrumental	zebraz	zebraz	zebrez
inessive	zebrarengan	zebrarengan	zebrengan
locative	—	—	—
allative	zebrarengana	zebrarengana	zebrengana
terminative	zebrarenganaino	zebrarenganaino	zebrenganaino
directive	zebrarenganantz	zebrarenganantz	zebrenganantz
destinative	zebrarenganako	zebrarenganako	zebrenganako
ablative	zebrarengandik	zebrarengandik	zebrengandik
partitive	zebrarik	—	—
prolative	zebratzat	—	—

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Catalan

Etymology

From Old Catalan atzebra, from Old Portuguese *ezevra, *ezevro.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /ˈze.bɾə/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈze.bɾa/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

zebra f (plural zebres)

1. zebra

Derived terms

• zebrat

Further reading

• “zebra” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

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Cebuano

Etymology

Borrowed from English zebra, from Italian zebra, from Portuguese zebra, zebro (“zebra”), from Old 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”).

Noun

zebra

1. a zebra; any of three species of genus Equus: E. grevyi, E. quagga, or E. zebra, all with black and white stripes and native to Africa
2. a pattern or motif similar to the stripes of a zebra
3. (informal) an animal with zebra-like stripes

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Corsican

Etymology

From Portuguese zebra (“wild horse”), from zebro, from Old Portuguese zevro, from *ezevro, from Vulgar Latin *eciferus, from Latin *equiferus, from equus (“horse”) + ferus (“wild”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzɛbra/

Noun

zebra f (plural zebre)

1. Alternative form of zebru

References

• https://infcor.adecec.net/

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Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzɛbra/

Noun

zebra f

1. zebra

Declension

Declension of zebra

	singular	plural
nominative	zebra	zebry
genitive	zebry	zeber
dative	zebře	zebrám
accusative	zebru	zebry
vocative	zebro	zebry
locative	zebře	zebrách
instrumental	zebrou	zebrami

Derived terms

• zebřička
• zebří

Further reading

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

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Danish

Noun

zebra c (singular definite zebraen, plural indefinite zebraer)

1. zebra

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Dutch

Drie zebra's. — Three zebras (sense 1).

Een zekere zebra in Londen. — A certain zebra crossing in London.

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese zebra, from Vulgar Latin *eciferus, from Latin equiferus (“wild horse”). The second sense is a shortening of zebrapad.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzeː.braː/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ze‧bra

Noun

zebra m (plural zebra's, diminutive zebraatje n)

1. A zebra, a black-and-white striped equid of the genus Equus; Equus zebra, Equus quagga or Equus grevyi. [from late 16th c.]
2. A zebra crossing, a pedestrian crossing. [from mid 1950s.]

   Synonym: zebrapad

Hypernyms

• (pedestrian crossing): oversteekplaats

Hyponyms

• (zebra): quagga

Derived terms

• zebrahaai
• zebrapad
• zebraprint

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Esperanto

Etymology

From zebro (“zebra”) +‎ -a.

Adjective

zebra (accusative singular zebran, plural zebraj, accusative plural zebrajn)

1. zebrine, hippotigrine

Hypernyms

• ekveda (“equid”)

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Hungarian

Zebra [1].

Zebra [2].

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈzɛbrɒ]
• Hyphenation: zeb‧ra
• Rhymes: -rɒ

Noun

zebra (plural zebrák)

1. (biology) zebra (animal)
2. (road transport)pedestrian crossing, crosswalk, zebra crossing

Declension

Inflection (stem in long/high vowel, back harmony)
	singular	plural
nominative	zebra	zebrák
accusative	zebrát	zebrákat
dative	zebrának	zebráknak
instrumental	zebrával	zebrákkal
causal-final	zebráért	zebrákért
translative	zebrává	zebrákká
terminative	zebráig	zebrákig
essive-formal	zebraként	zebrákként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	zebrában	zebrákban
superessive	zebrán	zebrákon
adessive	zebránál	zebráknál
illative	zebrába	zebrákba
sublative	zebrára	zebrákra
allative	zebrához	zebrákhoz
elative	zebrából	zebrákból
delative	zebráról	zebrákról
ablative	zebrától	zebráktól
non-attributive possessive - singular	zebráé	zebráké
non-attributive possessive - plural	zebráéi	zebrákéi

Possessive forms of zebra
possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	zebrám	zebráim
2nd person sing.	zebrád	zebráid
3rd person sing.	zebrája	zebrái
1st person plural	zebránk	zebráink
2nd person plural	zebrátok	zebráitok
3rd person plural	zebrájuk	zebráik

Synonyms

• (crosswalk): gyalogátkelőhely

Derived terms

(Compound words):

• zebrapinty

Further reading

• zebra in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

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Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): ^*/ˈd͡zɛ.bra/
• Rhymes: -ɛbra
• Hyphenation: zè‧bra

Noun

zebra f (plural zebre)

1. zebra
2. (in the plural, informal) zebra crossing/crosswalk

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Kashubian

Zebra.

Etymology

Borrowed from Polish zebra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzɛbra/
• Hyphenation: zeb‧ra

Noun

zebra f

1. zebra (striped mammal of the genus Equus)

References

• Eùgeniusz Gòłąbk (2011), “zebra”, in Słownik Polsko-Kaszubski / Słowôrz Pòlskò-Kaszëbsczi

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Ladin

Noun

zebra f (plural zebres)

1. zebra

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈze.bra/, [ˈd̪͡z̪ɛbrä]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ze.bra/, [ˈd̪͡z̪ɛːbrä]

Noun

zebra f (genitive zebrae); first declension

1. (New Latin) zebra (Equus zebra)

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	zebra	zebrae
Genitive	zebrae	zebrārum
Dative	zebrae	zebrīs
Accusative	zebram	zebrās
Ablative	zebrā	zebrīs
Vocative	zebra	zebrae

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Latvian

Zebra

Etymology

Possibly ultimately from a Congolese name for the animal, via Portuguese, via some other European language. Possibly also ultimately from Latin equiferus (“wild horse”), via Portuguese and/or Italian.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzɛbra/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

zebra f (4th declension)

1. zebra (esp. Equus zebra)

Declension

Declension of zebra (4th declension)

	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs)	zebra	zebras
accusative (akuzatīvs)	zebru	zebras
genitive (ģenitīvs)	zebras	zebru
dative (datīvs)	zebrai	zebrām
instrumental (instrumentālis)	zebru	zebrām
locative (lokatīvs)	zebrā	zebrās
vocative (vokatīvs)	zebra	zebras

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Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzɛb.ra/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛbra
• Syllabification: zeb‧ra

Noun

zebra f

1. zebra (animal)
2. (colloquial) zebra crossing

   Synonyms: przejście dla pieszych, pasy

Declension

Declension of zebra

	singular	plural
nominative	zebra	zebry
genitive	zebry	zebr
dative	zebrze	zebrom
accusative	zebrę	zebry
instrumental	zebrą	zebrami
locative	zebrze	zebrach
vocative	zebro	zebry

Descendants

• → Kashubian: zebra

Further reading

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

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Portuguese

zebra (Equus quagga antiquorum)

Etymology

From zebro, from Old Portuguese zebro, ezebro (“European wild ass”), from Vulgar Latin *eciferus, from Latin equiferus (“wild horse”), from equus (“horse”) + ferus (“wild”). Compare Spanish cebra.

Sense 2 of the word comes from the popular Brazilian betting game jogo do bicho, in which the animal is abscent, therefore it is unlikely that a zebra will be drawn.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈze.bɾɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈze.bɾɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈze.bɾa/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈze.bɾɐ/ [ˈze.βɾɐ]

• Hyphenation: ze‧bra

Noun

zebra f (plural zebras)

1. zebra
2. (Brazil, slang) A victorious competitor initially thought unlikely to win, especially in sports; an underdog

   Aquele time ganhou quando todo mundo pensou que ele iria perder, mas que zebra!.

   That [soccer] team won when everyone else thought they were going to lose, what a underdog!.

Descendants

• Italian: zebra
  • English: zebra

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Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /zêbra/

Noun

zȅbra f (Cyrillic spelling зе̏бра)

1. zebra

Declension

Declension of zebra

	singular	plural
nominative	zebra	zebre
genitive	zebre	zebra
dative	zebri	zebrama
accusative	zebru	zebre
vocative	zebro	zebre
locative	zebri	zebrama
instrumental	zebrom	zebrama

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Slovene

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /zèːbra/, /zéːbra/

Noun

zẹ̄bra f

1. zebra

Inflection

Feminine, a-stem
nom. sing.	zébra
gen. sing.	zébre
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	zébra	zébri	zébre
genitive (rodȋlnik)	zébre	zéber	zéber
dative (dajȃlnik)	zébri	zébrama	zébram
accusative (tožȋlnik)	zébro	zébri	zébre
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	zébri	zébrah	zébrah
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	zébro	zébrama	zébrami

Further reading

• “zebra”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran

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Spanish

Noun

zebra f (plural zebras)

1. Obsolete spelling of cebra

Further reading

• “zebra”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

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Swedish

Alternative forms

• sebra

Noun

zebra c

1. zebra

Declension

Declension of zebra
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	zebra	zebran	zebror	zebrorna
Genitive	zebras	zebrans	zebrors	zebrornas

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Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian zebra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈzeb.ɾɑ]
• Hyphenation: zeb‧ra

Noun

zebra (definite accusative zebrayı, plural zebralar)

1. zebra

Declension

Inflection
Nominative	zebra
Definite accusative	zebrayı
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	zebra	zebralar
Definite accusative	zebrayı	zebraları
Dative	zebraya	zebralara
Locative	zebrada	zebralarda
Ablative	zebradan	zebralardan
Genitive	zebranın	zebraların