Saying the Alphabet ? We say all the letters of the alphabet the same in British English and American English except for Z. In British English we say Zed. In American English we say Zee.
In short, the British pronounce “Z” as /zɛd/ (zed) whereas Americans pronounce it as /ziː/ (zee). Note that the same pronunciation is naturally used also in the plural: the plural of “Z”, denoted “Zs”, “Z's” or “z's”, is pronounced as /zɛdz/ (zedz) in the UK and /ziːz/ (zeez) in the US.
Zed is widely known to be used in British English. But it's also used in almost every English-speaking country. In England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Australia, India, Canada (usually), and New Zealand, Z is pronounced as zed. It's derived from the Greek letter zeta.
In most English-speaking countries, including Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, the letter's name is zed /zɛd/, reflecting its derivation from the Greek zeta (this dates to Latin, which borrowed Y and Z from Greek), but in American English its name is zee /ziː/, analogous to the ...
Because we speak English, not American. The question should be asked the other way around: “Why do US Americans say “zee” instead of “zed” for the letter “Z”? The word for the letter is ultimately from Greek “zeta” which passed into Latin as “zeta”. English took the word from Middle French “zede”.
Zed is the name of the letter Z. The pronunciation zed is more commonly used in Canadian English than zee. English speakers in other Commonwealth countries also prefer the pronunciation zed.
Z versus S
While American English uses 'ize', 'izi' and 'iza' in words like 'organize', 'organizing' and 'organization', Australian/British English uses 'ise', 'isi' and 'isa', as in 'organise', 'organising' and 'organisation'.
One key distinction between Australian English and American English in terms of orthography (spelling) is the use of, 's,' as opposed to, 'z. ' For example, in America, words such as, 'specialise,' 'authorise,' and, 'analyse,' are spelt with a, 'z,' as opposed to the, 's' that is used in Australian English.
A: Our style guide favours “okay” in more formal settings (and when writing dialogue), however in most other situations “OK” is also perfectly okay. It's even okay to use “O.K.” – but just be consistent with the two-letter form (i.e. always use OK or always use O.K. – don't chop and change).
The British and others pronounce “z”, “zed”, owing to the origin of the letter “z”, the Greek letter “Zeta”. This gave rise to the Old French “zede”, which resulted in the English “zed” around the 15th century.
Even unusual letters like Z and J are silent in words that we have adopted from foreign languages, such as marijuana (originally a Spanish word) and laissez-faire (French). But as Merriam-Webster Dictionary points out, one unusual letter is never silent: the letter V.
The Spanish letter Z is pronounced like the soft C (the letter C in front of E and I); that is, it is pronounced like a TH (in Spain)* or an S (in Latin America). * This is what you will hear in the sound files.
When making the S and Z sounds, air is pushed down the center of your tongue and between the tip of your tongue and your top teeth. The movement of the air makes the S and Z sounds. The S sound is a hissing sound like a snake. The Z sound is like the sound of buzzing bees.
Dictionaries give 'Aitch' as the standard pronunciation for the letter H but 'Haitch' is increasingly being used all across the country.
British and Australian: Colour. American: Color.
People from Australia call their homeland “Oz;” a phonetic abbreviation of the country's name, which also harkens to the magical land from L. Frank Baum's fantasy tale.
"Eh?" used to solicit agreement or confirmation is also heard regularly amongst speakers in Australia, Trinidad and Tobago and the United Kingdom (where it is sometimes spelled "ay" on the assumption that "eh" would rhyme with "heh" or "meh").
Mobile phones
Within Australia, mobile phone numbers begin with 04 or 05 – the Australian national trunk code" 0, plus the mobile indicator 4 or 5 – followed by eight digits.
Realize and realise are alternate spellings of the same word. In the US and Canada, realize is by far the more common spelling. In the UK, Australia, and New Zealand realise dominates, though realize is sometimes used too.
Australians call the letter “Z” as “Zed.” The same thing New Zealanders call it and the English.
So, let's summarize. Most verbs like organize, and their related nouns like organization, take z in American English and can also take z in British English. Certain verbs take s in both language variants, but this is usually fairly obvious – for example, revise would look pretty strange to most as revize.
The letter 'Z' in French is pronounced like the 'Z' in English: listen. That's simple enough, but there's one twist to the 'Z' in French as it can also be a silent letter. This occurs in almost every instance in which the 'Z' appears at the end of a word.
The German consonant 'z' is pronounced in the same manner as the English 'ts' sound that is found at the end of words such as 'cats', 'lots' or 'sits'.