#letter z

[searchsystem]

Kenan Nasibov / Letter Z / Typography / 2019

[webresourcesforyou]

The letter 'Z' ˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚ (no credit needed).

[danskjavlarna]

Source details and larger version.

Ornate capitals and other fancy vintage letters.

[oakandgumtrees]

The Mystery of the letter Z

When letters appear in words, they have one kind of pronunciation. But when we talk about them as letters, they all have names as well. There's a whole song about it - a song that ends slightly differently in different countries.

What do you call the letter Z?

Zee (USAmerican)

Zee (Other)

Zed (USAmerican)

Zed (Other)

I changed my mind to the secret third option below the cut

Voting ended onNov 7, 2025

The 'correct' name of the letter is, of course, whatever name will be understood by the people you're talking to. But just for fun, I've analysed the English names for the letters of the alphabet to identify some underlying rules, and I believe I have discovered an answer that is both justified and confusing to everyone.

The letters of the alphabet, in this analysis, will be divided into three groups: the vowels (including W and Y), the stops and affricates*, and the long consonants (fricatives, nasals, and liquids).

*A stop is a consonant that is short and percussive, like B, K, or T. An affricate is a consonant that starts with a stop, and follows it with a longer sound, like G, which is a hard d- sound plus a long zh- sound.

Each of these groups has a simple rule, with letter names varying from this rule where following it would make them easily confused with something else.

Vowels

Simple rule: pure vowel sound. Standard variant: add ah- prefix.

A (aa-ee) - simple plus diphthong

E (eey) - simple

I (ah-ee) - simple could be confused with E, ah- prefix added

O (oh-oo) - simple

U (yoo) - simple could be confused with O, ah- prefix added

W (double yoo) - etymological/historical

Y (wah-ee) - simple could be confused with I, I already has ah- prefix, w- added to start of ah- prefix

Stops and Affricates

Simple rule: consonant plus -ee. Standard variant: consonant plus -ay.

B (bee) - simple

D (dee) - simple

G (jee) - simple

J (jay) - variant to prevent confusion with G

K (kay) - different vowel to prevent confusion with C (see Long Consonants)

P (pee) - simple

Q (kyoo) - different vowel to prevent confusion with K

T (tee) - simple

X (eks) - X is never an initial consonant in English, so a consonant-initial letter name wouldn't work. It follows the simple pattern for a long consonant instead - see below.

Long Consonants

Simple rule: eh- plus consonant. Standard variant: simple rule for stops (consonant plus -ee).

C (see) - variant to avoid confusion with S

F (eff) - simple

L (ell) - simple

M (emm) - simple

N (enn) - simple

R (arr) - changes the vowel, not clear why

S (ess) - simple

V (vee) - variant to avoid confusion with F

H (aych or haych) - H is the only glottal consonant, so maybe it isn't surprising it's an exception. As a fricative, you would expect it to be final, but H isn't pronounced at the end of a word. It seems like the solution here is a combination of using another consonant which demonstrates H modification (H turning 'k' into 't-sh'), and sometimes pronouncing an H at the start of the letter name.

The Big Question: Z???

Z is a fricative, one of the long consonants. By the simple rule, this produces:

ezz

However, 'ezz' is extremely similar to 'ess', just like 'evv' is similar to 'eff'. So following the example of V, we should swap to the simple rule for stops, which produces:

zee

A familiar spelling! But we aren't done yet, because 'zee' sounds very similar to 'see' (C). We need another variation. Following the variant rule for stops, we now arrive at the true name of the letter Z:

Zay

[pinglet]

Paper Letters Y, Z, Reimagined

[buddiewordoftheday]

zoo

noun

: a facility with usually indoor and outdoor settings where living, typically wild animals are kept especially for public exhibition

E.g. | Buck used to take Chris to the zoo all the time when he was a little kid. They went so often, he had the place memorized.

[polldermodel]

Zet je een streepje door de Z?

Zet je een streepje door de Z?

Ja (Ƶ)

Nee (Z)

Voting ended onFeb 13, 2024

[austim]

💙 | How to write heart font letters [🇾 🇿]