IPA phoneme \z\

In English, both in Received Pronunciation and in General American, the IPA phonetic symbol **/z/** corresponds to the initial consonant sound in words like "zoo", and "zebra" and the final one in "sneeze" and "jazz". It is normally spelled with "s" as in "does" or "cousin".

/z/ is a voiced consonant; its unvoiced counterpart is IPA phoneme /s/. Care must be taken to the fact that in many examples the letter "s" represents /s/ and in many others it represents /z/.

## Words with "z"

* with inital /z/: zapping - zebra - zero - zone - zoo
* with final /z/: amaze - booze - buzz - breeze - freeze - gaze - prize - size
* in "mid"-position: citizen - crazy - dizzy - dozen - cozy*AmE* - lazy - magazine

## Words with "s"

* with final /z/: always - as - because - cause - cheese - choose - close *(v.)* - clothes - cruise - his - lose - news - pause - please - positive - propose - result - raise - rise - series - sometimes - surprise - these - those - use *(v.)* - whose - wise

* Plural: answers - dogs - dreams - eyes - flies - friends - gardens - hospitals - jobs - keys - leaders - lives - shoes - things - watches
* Third person singular: approaches - buys - considers - does - drags - fills - finds - flies - has - is - loves - maintains - seems - sings - tries - was

See also Pronunciation of the morpheme “-s”
* between vowels: acquisition - busy - cosy*BrE* - cousin - design - desire - disease - easy - museum - music - opposite - pleasant - position - positive - presence - present *(n. and v.)* - president - prison - proposal - reason - reserve - resident - resist - resolve - result - season - visit - user

* other: business - husband - observe - Thursday - Tuesday - Wednesday

## Words with "ss"

Normally "ss" sounds /s/. The following exceptions sound /z/. This list is fairly complete (obvious derivatives are not included).

* Aussie - brassiere - dessert - dissolve - hussar *(a soldier)* - Missouri - po**ss**ess - po**ss**ession - scissors

## Words with "x"

* "x" as /gz/: exactly, examine, example, executive, exist

## Verbs ending in /aɪz/

Verbs ending with the suffix "ise" can be spelled with "s" or "z" in British spelling and only with "z" in American spelling.

* emphasise - emphasize; organise - organize; realise - realize; recognise - recognize;

Verbs ending with the suffix "yse" are spelled with "s" in British spelling and with "z" in American spelling.

* analyse - analyze; dialyse - dialyze;

If /aɪz/ is not part of a suffix, then only one spelling is used

* size - surprise

## Homophones

* clause - claws; freeze - frees *(third person);* size - sighs *(plural and third person);* pause - paws; raise - rays; ways *(plural)* - weighs *(third person);*

* What is the difference between a cat and a comma?

   A cat has its claws at the end of its paws and a comma has its pause at the end of its clause.
## Greek plurals

Words of Greek origin ending in -sis /sɪs/ make their plurals ending in -ses /siːz/.

* analysis /əˈnæləsɪs/ - analyses /əˈnæləsiːz/; crisis /kraɪsɪs/ - crises /kraɪsiːz/;

## These words don't rhyme

/z - s/

* demise - concise; please - lease;
* compromise /ˈkɒmprəmaɪz/ - promise /ˈprɒmɪs/

## Heteronyms

* present: *(n. and adj.)* /ˈprezənt/, *(v.)* /prɪˈzent/
* use: *(n.)* /juːs/, *(v.)* /juːz/
* used to: *modal verb* /juːst tə/, *normal verb followed by "to"* /juːzd tə/

## Clippings

Some words that are spelled with "s" are shortened with "z"

* business - biz; show business - showbiz *or* show biz; lesbian - lez; president - prez;

## Respellings

* Waze is an application used to find your ways.

## Spanish L1

In Spanish either [z] does not exist, or (in some dialects) it is the sound of "s" before some consonants: *mismo* pronounced [ˈmizmo]. In any case /z/ is perceived identical to /s/ by Spanish speakers. Most of them need to be convinced of the difference between words like *hiss* and *his*, or *price* and *prize*. This is a frequent issue, because /z/ appears in many everyday words like third person singular of verbs *plays, does, goes, was, has, is, he's, she's*, not to mention many plurals, such as *eyes, trees, dogs,* etc. See Pronunciation of the morpheme “-s”.

Note that in the following grammar words "s" is pronounced /s/: this - thus - us - yes

This is explained in Pronunciation and decoding exercises: /s/ vs /z/, and with a lot of detail in Advanced decoding exercises: /s/ vs /z/.

## See also

* Decoding the letter S
* Decoding the letter X
* Decoding the letter Z
* Homophones
* Pronunciation and decoding exercises: /s/ vs /z/

## External links

* British Library, Received Pronunciation consonant sounds