ZEBRA
What does "ZEBRA" mean?
An African wild horse-like mammal with a coat of black and white stripes.
Meanings
- A striped, horse-like mammal of the genus Equus native to Africa. A herd of zebra grazed beside the watering hole.
- In medicine, slang for a rare or unexpected diagnosis. When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras. informal
Did you know?
- No two zebras share the same stripe pattern - each coat is as individual as a fingerprint, and foals recognize their mothers partly by her stripes.
- A 2019 study found zebra stripes work as insect repellent: biting flies approach but fail to land on the high-contrast pattern, aborting at the last second.
Word origin
From Italian or Portuguese 'zebra', possibly from Old Spanish 'ezebra' (wild ass), perhaps ultimately from a Latin word for a wild horse; the African animal took the European name in the 16th century.
Remember it
ZEBRA starts with Z, the last letter, and an A, the first - a black-and-white animal bookended by the alphabet's two ends.
A little poem
Sunlight through tall grass-
the herd is one striped shadow
no lion can count.
haiku
Wordplay
- Why don't zebras give straight answers? Everything they say is in black and white.
What it teaches
Stripes that look like camouflage to us confuse the predator that matters; design for the eye that's hunting you.
Quick facts
What does ZEBRA mean?
An African wild horse-like mammal with a coat of black and white stripes.
Is ZEBRA a valid word?
Yes — ZEBRA is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is ZEBRA?
ZEBRA has 5 letters and 2 syllables.
Where does ZEBRA come from?
From Italian or Portuguese 'zebra', possibly from Old Spanish 'ezebra' (wild ass), perhaps ultimately from a Latin word for a wild horse; the African animal took the European name in the 16th century.
What can ZEBRA teach us?
Stripes that look like camouflage to us confuse the predator that matters; design for the eye that's hunting you.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.