# zebra

Pronunciation: US say "ZEE-bruh" /ˈziːbɹə/; UK say "ZEB-ruh" /ˈzɛbɹə/

## Noun

1. A wild African mammal related to the horse, with a coat of black and white stripes.
   - Simple: A wild African animal that looks like a horse and has black and white stripes.
   - _A lone zebra grazed at the edge of the watering hole._
   - _On the savanna, zebras often travel alongside wildebeest for safety._
2. A pedestrian crossing marked by broad white stripes painted across the road, where walkers have the right of way. *(British)*
   - Simple: A place to cross a road, marked with wide white stripes painted on the ground.
   - _A driver must stop when someone steps onto the zebra._
   - _They painted a new zebra outside the station to slow the traffic._
3. A sports referee or game official who enforces the rules of play. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A referee in a game, especially one wearing a black and white striped shirt.
   - _The zebra waved off the touchdown after reviewing the play._
   - _Both coaches argued with the zebras over the final call._
4. An unlikely diagnosis, especially one proposed for symptoms that a common ailment more probably explains. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A rare or unlikely illness that a doctor suspects when a common one is far more likely.
   - _She warned the residents not to reach for a zebra before ruling out the obvious._
   - _Before chasing a zebra, the team ruled out the common infections that usually cause these symptoms._
5. A derogatory term for a biracial person, specifically one born to a Sub-Saharan African parent and a white parent. *(slang)*
   - Simple: An offensive word for a person who has one Black parent and one white parent.
   - _Growing up, she was taunted as a zebra by neighbors who disapproved of her parents' marriage._
   - _The coach benched two players for calling a biracial teammate a zebra._

## Other meanings

- (noun) Someone living with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or with hypermobility spectrum disorder.
- (noun) A small striped Central American cichlid (Amatitlania nigrofasciata) commonly kept in freshwater aquariums.
- (noun) Any of various black-and-white swallowtail butterflies of the genus Graphium found in South and Southeast Asia, such as the lesser zebra.

## Origin

Attested by 1598, zebra was borrowed from Italian zebra, from Portuguese zebra or zebro, from Old Galician-Portuguese words meaning 'wild ass'. These may trace back through Vulgar Latin to Latin equiferus ('wild horse'), from equus ('horse') plus ferus ('wild').

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/zebra (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).