The Letter "Z" is for zebra and zoom!

Z stands for Zany, a foolish Young Fellow.

       The dagger "zayin" from which we obtain our Z must have been important in the daily lives of the Greeks, Hebrews and Phoenicians for it occupies the sixth place (Zeta) and the seventh in the latter alphabets. The Romans did not change its name or shape, but although there has been little change in 2,000 years we see little resemblance to the short sword in the letter the Romans gave to us.

       Many slight changes that have occurred in the formation of the letters of the alphabet may be accounted for. At first the Greeks wrote from left to right in one line and from right to left on the next line -- a mode of writing which has been termed "boustrophedon" because it runs as an ox plow does in a field, up one furrow and down another. It is due to this fact that many letters were reversed from their original prototypes. 

       The small letters of the alphabet, sometimes called "lower case" letters because printers keep them in a case below the capitals, or "minuscule letters" in contrast with "majuscule," or capital letters, illustrate further changes due to rapid writing of capitals in a cursive or running hand.

       The few characters selected by Phoenicians, the great traders, artificers and farmers of the ancient world, not only influenced Greek literature and life, Roman and modern nations of Europe, but also spread eastward to the very walls of China. The Hebrews copied them as a whole and retained the original names with only slight variations. They did change the shapes because a different writing instrument was employed.

       According to a legend, Jehovah gave the letters to Moses, hence all the left curves in Hebrew letter form turn upward-as symbols of a finger pointing heavenward.

       The Phoenician alphabet is also the parent of the Arabic, Indian, Javanese, Corean, Tibetan, Coptic syllabaries and alphabets. No small country ever gave such a great gift to humanity; no large country could have given a greater gift. by Otto F. Ege

Our "Z" Coloring Pages Thus Far:

1. "Z is for zoom!" alphabet coloring page, plus upper case letter Z tracing and sentence including the word "zoom"
2. "Z is for zebra" alphabet coloring page, letter recognition and trace Zz 
3. Color Letter Zz
   

Search for more of our English Alphabet Letter Coloring Pages:
Aa  Bb  Cc  Dd  Ee  Ff  Gg  Hh  Ii  Jj  Kk  Ll  Mm  Nn  Oo  Pp  Qq  Rr  Ss Tt  Uu  Vv  Ww  Xx  Yy  and  Zz

More About The Letter "Z":

• The Illuminated Letter "Z" at The Grimm Scriptorium
• Z is for Zachary Primer Page