Why do Candians say 'Zed' for letter 'Z' and the rest of the world says 'Zee'?

As some people have pointed out, the vast majority of the English-speaking world says "Zed", not "Zee".

The French connection is correct, but maybe not in the way people are explaining it, because it was passed on to English hundreds of years ago:

"The nutshell story of zed? Zed entered Middle English from French representing a “ts” or “ds” sound, then came to represent the voiced sibilant in, for example, the word zoo.

Because it entered French from Latin as zeta, it became zède in modern French, zeta in modern Spanish and Italian, and zed in English."

See:

http://www.billcasselman.com/cwod_archive/zed.htm

The American tendency to say "zee' came from England as well, as explained in the article above.

It seems equally, or more, likely that "zed" is a result of Anglo-European influence in Canada and Canada's membership of the Commonwealth.

i.e.

French > English > Canadian tendency to say "zed"

seems correct, rather than this direct connection:

French > Canadian tendency to say "zed"

It depends on where you're from and what kind of accent you have. Americans say 'Zee', Brits say 'Zed' (and so does most of the world by the way, Zed not Zee) there is no right or wrong way to pronounce the letter.

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RE:

Why do Candians say 'Zed' for letter 'Z' and the rest of the world says 'Zee'?

I just took a poll about it on my last quesion.

Only the US pronounce it 'zee' ... the reason?.. it rhymes with their alphabet song. That's all.

There are many types of English - British English, Australian English, Canadian English and American English, to name but a few of the different English Dialects.

Most of the dialects pronounce the letter z 'zed' not 'zee', but due to the influence of American television through programs such as Sesame Street, many people around the world understand what zee is, but also use zed.

The 'rest of the world' does not say Zee. Go to Britain they use Zed too! Explanation: all letters of the alphabet have names. And Z is called Zed in Canada. UK and most of Africa that speak English.

Letter Z

In Australia, we say 'zed'.

.

I say Zed and i live in New Zealand

everyone in our country and Australia say Zed

Yes, "zee" by Americans -you just realised that yourself.

Most people uses "zed".

I say ZED too. && I'm from New Zealand. Its just an accent thing. Apparently only Canadian's and New Zealander's say it like that.