The first known instance of “zee” being recorded as the correct pronunciation of the letter “z” was in Lye’s New Spelling Book, published in 1677. This gave rise to the Old French “zede”, which resulted in the English “zed” around the 15th century.Īs to why people in the United States call “z”, “zee”, it is thought that this is likely simply adopted from the pronunciation of the letters “bee”, “cee”, “dee”, “eee”, “gee”, “pee”, “tee”, and “vee”. The British and others pronounce “z”, “zed”, owing to the origin of the letter “z”, the Greek letter “Zeta”. The primary exception, of course, is in the United States where “z” is pronounced “zee”. The vast majority of the English speaking world does this. It’s not just the British that pronounce “z” as “zed”. She went from reading 10% of the book to 20%, 50%, 80% and soon complete books.Jack asks: Why do the British pronounce “Z” as “Zed”? From that point on, I would nudge her with my elbow if it was her turn to read the word my finger was pointing to. She was also surprised when she admitted to being able to read. I pretended to be surprised and asked if she "read" it. One evening, I paused with my finger under a character name. When reading to her, I did it like a six year old with my finger under the letters and sounding out the unfamiliar words and correcting myself. When she wanted milk, I would open the fridge and pretend that I could not find it until she answered my query as to what milk started with. For example, at snack time, "what does banana (cookie, apple etc.) start with?" When we were shopping, I would ask her what cereal we should buy and then the first letter of that cereal. What else are you doing to teach your child the letters? I would ask her what something started with. I had removable decals on the wall of her bedroom that Elmo would point to as the song was sung. Another way to break it up is if you also do sign language with it and they notice you changing your fingers to make it five distinct letters. If your child does not have an initial M, you could use a favorite stuffed animal or even "Mommy that loves you" to help break up that annoying letter in the middle of the song (use kiss instead of breath). After a quick tickle session, we would continue with "en" breath, breath, "Oh", breath, breath, "pea", breath, breath. I was able to break it up by making a big fuss over the letter M being for (fill in her name for those that know it). I would praise her for correctly identifying the letter.įor those that teach their children the alphabet song, do you also teach them the wonderful letter in the middle called "elemenopee"? Teachers hate having to unteach the students and sometimes wish parents would not sing this song so often. If she used "zee" I would not correct her because I understood what she was trying to say. If she questioned the difference, I explained the American and Canadian dialect and that both were correct. However, when I was doing the alphabet that was on her wall as a bedtime story, it sometimes came out zed depending on what I was doing with the alphabet at that time. The best television show at that time was the American Sesame Street. In many dialects of English, the letter's name is zed reflecting its derivation from the Greek zeta but in American English and Newfoundland English, its name is zee, deriving from a late 17th century English dialectal form.Īmericans also pronounce Iraq as Eyerac, when Iraq is correct, and Iran as Eyeran, when Eeran is in fact correct. And for the record, I sing my ABC's Double U, Ex, Why and Zed thank you very much lol. The difference between Zee and Zed is predominantly between the USA and Canada it seems. But that's because I'm truely American.oh you silly Canadians and your pronounciations. Okay, now sing out loud the alphabet song "Double U, Ex, Why, and Zed.now I know my Eh, Bee, C's". Sing out loud the alphabet song "Double U, Ex, Why, and Zee.now I know my Eh, Bee, C's". I was always taught growing up that it is Zed. Corr25 said "What's the correct pronounciation for the Z in Canada? Just want to teach the little ones correctly.
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