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139 entries found
Zeiss (adj.)
in reference to spy-glasses or binoculars, 1905, from the firm founded by German optical instrument manufacturer Carl Zeiss (1816-1888).
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zeitgeist (n.)
1848, from German Zeitgeist (Herder, 1769), "spirit of the age," literally "time-spirit," from Zeit "time" (from Proto-Germanic *tidiz "division of time," from PIE root *da- "to divide") + Geist "spirit" (see ghost (n.)). Carlyle has it as a German word in "Sartor Resartus" (1840) and translates it as "Time-Spirit."
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zek (n.)
"Russian condemned person in a prison or labor camp," 1968, from Russian zek, probably representing a vocalization of z/k, abbreviation of zaklyuchennyi "prisoner."
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Zen (n.)
school of Mahayana Buddhism, 1727, from Japanese, from Chinese ch'an, ultimately from Sanskrit dhyana "thought, meditation," from PIE root *dheie- "to see, look" (source also of Greek sema "sign, mark, token"). As an adjective from 1881.
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Zend (n.)
1715, "Parsee sacred book" (in full, Zend-Avesta, 1620s), from Old Persian zend, from Pahlavi zand "commentary," from Avestan zainti- "knowledge," from PIE root *gno- "to know." First used 1771 in reference to the language of the Zend-Avesta by French scholar Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron (1731-1805).
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zenith (n.)
"point of the heavens directly overhead at any place," late 14c., from Old French cenith (Modern French zénith), from Medieval Latin cenit, senit, bungled scribal transliterations of Arabic samt "road, path," abbreviation of samt ar-ras, literally "the way over the head." Letter -m- misread as -ni-.

The Medieval Latin word could as well be influenced by the rough agreement of the Arabic term with classical Latin semita "sidetrack, side path" (notion of "thing going off to the side"), from se- "apart" + *mi-ta-, a suffixed form of PIE root *mei- (1) "to change, go, move." Figurative sense of "highest point or state" is from c. 1600.
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Zenobia 
fem. proper name, from Greek Zenobia, literally "the force of Zeus," from Zen, collateral form of Zeus, + bia "strength, force," cognate with Sanskrit jya "force, power" (see Jain).
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Zenonian (adj.)
1843, pertaining to one of two Greek thinkers: Zeno of Elea ("Zeno of the Paradoxes," 5c. B.C.E.), who disproved the possibility of motion; and Zeno of Citium (c. 300 B.C.E.), founder of stoicism.
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zep (n.)
abbreviation of zeppelin, attested by 1915.
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Zephaniah 
masc. proper name, Biblical ninth of the prophets, from Hebrew Tzephanyah "the Lord has hidden."
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