1

zap (or bug zapper)

2

zazen (meditation)

3

zeal or zealot

4

zebra or zebra crossing

5

zed/zee (the letter itself)

6

zeitgeist (the defining spirit or mood for a particular historical period or location)

7

zenith

8

zephyr (a gentle breeze)

9

zeppelin

10

zero

11

zest

12

zeugma (a Western term for a word that has a meaning with what comes before and after it, as in “killing time flies”—like a pivot line in haiku)

13

zigzag

14

zinc

15

zinfandel

16

zinger

17

zinnia

18

zip or zipper

19

zirconium

20

zit

21

zither

22

zodiac

23

zombie

24

zone

25

zoo or zookeeper or zoological

26

zucchini

27

zwieback (a type of cracker or hard bread)

28

zydeco (a Louisiana musical genre that blends blues, R&B, and indigenous music)

29

zyzzyva (a genus of tropical American palm weevil, the last word in many English dictionaries, and the last word in NaHaiWriMo’s two-year odyssey through 790 daily alphabetical writing prompts using all the letters of the English alphabet)