zeugma, zeug, zugzwang, zilch, zoot suit, zymurgy

This is the last entry for the 4 1/2 pages of z's.  

zeugma: [Latin, a joining]  a word that modifies two words  (See Fowler's 

Modern English Usage.)

       i.e. "she opened her heart and her home to the homeless boy"

      zeug means "rubbish or junk" in German (sounds like 'soyg’)

    In chess, zugzwang means to force the opponent to make a bad move - they have no other moves available.  Zug in German means "move"  (sounds like 'zoog'); and zwang means 'to force'  (sounds like 

'svahng').

zilch: zero

zoot suit:  [derivation: sounds like the word 'suit'] from the 1940's; a long jacket, wide shoulders, pants that were wide at the top and narrow at the bottom.  Lawrence Block: “he wore a reet pleat with a drape sheet."

zym-  [Greek, zyme, leaven]  fermentation  Example: enzyme 

zymology, zymurgy: the branch of chemistry that deals with fermentation, i.e. the study of wine

     Speaking of wine…other words that come to mind are:

     oenophile: (Greek oinos, wine) \ee’ noh file\  a connoisseur of wine

          oenophilist: same meaning

          oenophilic, adj.

          oenophilia, the love of wines

     sommelier: (French, sommier, a person in charge of transportation;)    somme, a burden)  \suhm uh l yey’\  a waiter in a restaurant or club in charge of wines

Of course, there is Homer’s Odyssey, with it’s many references throughout to “the wine dark sea.”   A book of great poetic description.

And…speaking of wine, how about vodka?  I recently met a couple from Poland (at the dog park, the scene of many good conversations).  We discussed my love of words and they explained the vodka was the diminutive of voda (Russian), which means “water.”  Adding the -ka to the end of the word makes it diminutive, i.e. “little water.”  Sounds like an AA meeting to me…I only drink a little water.  Similar to adding -ito in Spanish (zapatito for little shoes or zapatos; or adding -ina, such as Christina for ‘little Christ.”  

What is the last word in the dictionary?"  It is not ”zygote”…the last word is zymurgy.

other miscellaneous “z” words:

zaddic

zayin

zebroid

zed

zinnia

zizith

booster

zoysia

zucchini (diminutive of zucca)

zygodactyl (parrot), zygodactylous

zymurgy: the last letter of the dictionary