Z

Radestrian

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /az/ (letter name)
• Homophones: az
• Rhyme: -az ⁽³⁾

Letter

Z (upper case, lower case z)

1. The thirty-first letter of the Radestrian alphabet, called az.

Etymology 2

Coined in the 1960s to resolve the dilemma of the extant prefix lenire· (“kilo-”) already having the symbol l. While L was not used as a symbol, the giga- and nano- pair were given the same letters in their respective case for consistency, via an additional stroke to the base letter, i.e. Ł and ł. These developed in written form to Z and z, ultimately favoured for their disposition in the Radestrian alphabet and, also relevantly, keyboard layout. This development is comparable to the simultaneously coined symbols for aenire· (“tera-”) and aenirje· (“pico-”), Y and y, which developed from an original Ⱥ and ⱥ. See Y for the full development.

An identical approach was taken for the recently coined symbol for lienire· (“zetta-”) and lienirje· (“zepto-”), resulting in Ł and ł, respectively, which have since been standardised. Therefore, as a symbol, Z is a doublet of Ł.

Symbol

Z

1. abbreviation of lirenire· (“giga-”, SI prefix); G

   ZR (lirenire·rvía)

   GB (gigabyte)

Related terms

• z (“nano-”)
• Ł (“zetta-”)
• ł (“zepto-”)