Please indicate country in your answer.
How does zeebra not ryhme with debra already? I mean, I know english pronunciation is put through a random IPA generator before being finalized, but Wiktionary gives the same exact IPA (bɹə) for the -bra part in both words. So shouldn’t they be rhyming then?
In the U.S., the letter Z is pronounced zee. The rest of the English-speaking world pronounces it zed. Thus the difference.
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
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”.
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?
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 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.
Uk, rhymes with Debra
South African here. I pronounce it Zeh-bra . So not using the American zee.
Australia: rhymes with Debra
Australian here so zed-bra
Canada, rhymes with Debra. Mind you my mom was British so that may have been why I say it that way.
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.
Zaybra
Ditto (Dutch)
Canada: I don’t know, they both seem pretty normal to me. We don’t say “zebra” too much around here. I just typed “zerba” and feel like I should say it like that next time.
