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PlainSpell

zap

/zæp/noun, verb, interjection

zap is spelled Z-A-P: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,418th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, zap means “A sound made by a sudden release of electricity or some similar energy” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of zap is zaps.

How many letters and syllables are in zap?

Letters3: Z-A-P
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 1 million words; the 30,418th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is zap?

Zap appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,418th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce zap?

  • /zæp/

Zap has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-zap.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of zap

  • zaps plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • zapping participle, present
  • zapped participle, past
  • zap!

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does zap mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    colloquialA sound made by a sudden release of electricity or some similar energy.

  2. 2

    colloquialAn electric shock.

    You might feel a little zap touching a metal doorknob when the air is dry.

  3. 3

    A raucous public demonstration designed to embarrass a public figure or celebrity as a form of political activism.

  4. 4

    slangThe act of heating something in a microwave oven.

verb

  1. 1

    To make a zap sound.

  2. 2

    To use a remote control to repeatedly fast-forward or change channels on a television.

  3. 3

    To strike (something or someone) with electricity or energy, as by shooting.

    They spent the whole movie zapping bad guys into oblivion.

  4. 4

    USslangTo kill; to eliminate.

  5. 5

    slangTo do away with something.

  6. 6

    slangTo enliven.

  7. 7

    slangTo move or transport (something) in a brief time frame.

  8. 8

    slangTo damage (especially electronics) with electrostatic discharge.

    I think they zapped the processor.

interjection

  1. 1

    Representing the sound or action of a zap.

    Then the computer went zap and I lost all my work.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Zap in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
GermanFunkenschlag (sound), (elektrischer) Schlag (electrical shock), zappen (change channels repeatedly)
Spanishcorrientazo (electrical shock), zapear, hacer zapping (change channels repeatedly)
Frenchzapper, faire du zapping (change channels repeatedly), enlever (delete (electronic media))
Portuguesezapear, zapar, fazer zapping (change channels repeatedly)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does zap come from?

1920s, American English, of imitative origin.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after zap