Please indicate country in your answer.
in northern ireland that’s “Deeebrah”
I knew a person in NC who pronounced it “De-bore-ah”.
Ze-bra, like le in french and bra like a piece of lingerie.
/jk
depends if they are male or female. zeebra is for females and zeebro is for males.
Bruh
In Italian it rhymes with Debra. Italians also feel sorry for all kids whose parents thought omitting an O would make for a good name choice.
US: “Zeebra”
I would venture a guess that countries that say “Z” as “Zee” pronounce it “zeebra” where countries that say Z as in “Zed” pronounce it zebrah like “Debra”.
Except Canada, where we only do things halfway and never just pick a side on something like this: we say both “zed” and “zeebra”
In your defense, you have a significant active French community.
It’s a bit like during the Norman Conquest when English started absorbing some French - it’s just still ongoing for you!
That’s a good point and for language stuff we should prob get a pass, but I NEED people to stop using the fucking imperial system for such a random assortment of shit and just stick to metric lol
Also US but I’d say most people in my area have a more noticeable down shift on the end vowel so it sounds more “zeebruh”. Debra on the otherhand would still have a crisper “a”.
Debra the woman’s name? Or the verb for removing a bra?
Is Zeebra and animal, or a French person asking for lingerie?
je ne sais bra
Aren’t they pronounced the same?
Dee-bra (the verb) vs Debra, the person. That’s how it sounds
in the states, the de- prefix is either pronounced “dee” or just “d” without a vowel sound, and in both cases the emphasis is on the verb. whereas debra would be “deh-bruh” or “deb-ruh” with even emphasis
Woman’s name. Deb-rah. A lot of places say it like “zeb-rah”
In Germany it’s pronounced Tsébrah. Though I have a hard time thinking about an example for our e sound. It’s like halfway between zeebra and Debra. The sound is more similar to Debra but less flat. Maybe like the second e in electricity but a little bit longer.
Zeb-rah, as was how everyone across southern Africa says it. My partner and I always say “Debra the Zebra” after saying zebra. The places that have zebras says it like that… Maybe they know better.
In the US I don’t try and make people worry about it that much and usually use their strange word.
US and I say “zehbra.” But I do this intentionally because that’s how I’ve heard South Africans say it and I figure they are correct. My wife thinks I’m pretentious. But not as pretentious as her friend who insists the pastry is pronounced “kwah-sahn.”
Pronouncing the pastry like that outside of a French sentence irritates me so much that I do as my more rural relatives used to and say “crescent roll” and stress the “cress.”
Zay-braah I guess, if I would try to write Dutch sounds in English spelling.
There’s a sound version available at https://webwoordenboek.nl/uitspraak/zebra
Zaybra
Ditto (Dutch)
South African here. I pronounce it Zeh-bra . So not using the American zee.
Uk, rhymes with Debra
Canada, rhymes with Debra. Mind you my mom was British so that may have been why I say it that way.
I’m from Ireland, and I hear both used. I personally say “Zehbra” though.
