Why zed and zee

Zee became the American standard. While British and American English have distinct vocabularies, Canadian English vocabulary is informed by both. For the most part, however, Canadian English follows the American influence, with Canadians preferring flashlight to torch and diaper to nappy , for example. Zed is perhaps the most iconic instance of Canadians preferring the British term to the American.

But that was not always the case. Still, evidence suggests that children were taught to say zee in school. Canadian linguist J. In the end, education reform led by Egerton Ryerson in the s standardized school textbooks in anglophone Canada West Ontario , settling on British books and removing American textbooks from classrooms see Curriculum Development.

Eventually, zed gained preference over zee. According to a linguistic study by M. Scargill, zed was preferred by English-speakers across Canada — except in Newfoundland. Between 72 and 79 per cent of Canadians said zed, while 11 to 15 per cent said zee ; the remaining respondents said either zed or zee.

Since then, preference for zee has been on the rise, while zed has been on the decline. However, the change has been far less pronounced than in other examples: change in preference for the term couch over chesterfield , or gutters over eavestroughs , has been more acute.

According to the North American Regional Vocabulary Survey carried out by linguist Charles Boberg from to , 70 per cent of Canadians now say zed and 28 per cent say zee. The Gage Canadian Dictionary includes an entry for zed — though not for zee. BY Paul Anthony Jones. Big Questions. Subscribe to our Newsletter! I will also show you a mnemonic device that makes remembering whether to use zed or zee a little easier.

What does zee mean? Zee is the American English pronunciation of the letter Z. Z is the 26th and final letter of the English alphabet. It is also the letter with the lowest frequency of use in English words. Like I said, writers rarely need to spell out the pronunciations of letters. Still, there are a few rare instances when you might want to spell out letter pronunciations in standard English characters, like these:.

What does zed mean? Zed is the British English pronunciation of the letter Z.