Why does the UK use s instead of z?
Why does the UK use s instead of z?
Why do the British use an ‘s’ in words like ‘realise’ but the Americans use a ‘z’? It’s because American English spelling, many of the rules of which were devised by Noah Webster, who thought it would develop into a separate language, follows the rules of Latin and Greek, whereas British English uses those of French.
How do Brits say Z?
In short, the British pronounce “Z” as /zɛd/ (zed) whereas Americans pronounce it as /ziː/ (zee). Note that the same pronunciation is naturally used also in the plural: the plural of “Z”, denoted “Zs”, “Z’s” or “z’s”, is pronounced as /zɛdz/ (zedz) in the UK and /ziːz/ (zeez) in the US.
Is it Zed or Zee in India?
1 Answer. You’re correct. We call it ‘Zed’, even though ZEE TV has been around for ages. We don’t associate the company’s name with the letter’s pronunciation.
Is Z zee or zed?
It’s not just the British that pronounce “z” as “zed”. The vast majority of the English speaking world does this. The primary exception, of course, is in the United States where “z” is pronounced “zee”. The British and others pronounce “z”, “zed”, owing to the origin of the letter “z”, the Greek letter “Zeta”.
What country pronounces S as Z?
The British and others pronounce “z”, “zed”, owing to the origin of the letter “z”, the Greek letter “Zeta”.
Who says Zed for Z?
The primary exception, of course, is in the United States where “z” is pronounced “zee”. The British and others pronounce “z”, “zed”, owing to the origin of the letter “z”, the Greek letter “Zeta”. This gave rise to the Old French “zede”, which resulted in the English “zed” around the 15th century.
What is the difference between Z and s?
z or s? In British English, s is generally used in such words as recognise, authorise. The letter z is used in American English in such words as recognize or authorize. However, it is not wrong to use z in such words when using British English as standard.
What is the origin of the suffix “z”?
But the suffix itself, whatever the element to which it is added, is in its origin the Greek ‑ιζειν, Latin ‑izāre; and, as the pronunciation is also with z, there is no reason why in English the special French spelling should be followed, in opposition to that which is at once etymological and phonetic.
What is the difference between British and American spellings of English?
Today’s British English spellings mostly follow Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), while many American English spellings follow Webster’s An American Dictionary of the English Language (“ADEL”, “Webster’s Dictionary”, 1828).
Why does the OED prefer the Z form of the word ‘z’?
I recall a post here (within the past few weeks) in which a British poster wrote that the OED favors the “z” form as truer to the Greek root of this word ending. Maybe someone else has specifics. Personally I prefer British spelling but in international environment american one becomes more and more common and de facto standard.
