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zulu

/ˈzuːluː/noun

zulu is spelled Z-U-L-U: 4 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 22,651st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, zulu means “Alternative letter-case form of Zulu from the NATO/ICAO Phonetic Alphabet” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in zulu?

Letters4: Z-U-L-U
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.5 times per million words; the 22,651st 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 zulu?

Zulu appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 22,651st 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 zulu?

  • /ˈzuːluː/

Zulu has 2 syllables (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-ca-Zulu.oga, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What does zulu mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    Alternative letter-case form of Zulu from the NATO/ICAO Phonetic Alphabet.

noun

as Zulu
  1. 1

    A member of an African ethnic group living mainly in the KwaZulu-Natal Province in eastern South Africa.

  2. 2

    UKdatedslangAny black person.

  3. 3

    Time along the prime meridian; UTC; Zulu time.

    Noon MST is 19:00 Zulu.

adjective

as Zulu
  1. 1

    Pertaining to the Zulu people, culture, or language.

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

Zulu in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
FrenchZoulou, Zouloue (member of the Zulu people), Zoulous (Zulu people (plural)), zoulou (pertaining to the Zulu people, culture, or…)
GermanZulu (member of the Zulu people), Zulus (Zulu people (plural)), Zulu-, zulu-, zuluisch (pertaining to the Zulu people, culture, or…)
Portuguesezulu (member of the Zulu people)
Spanishzulú (pertaining to the Zulu people, culture, or…)

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 zulu come from?

Derived from Zulu uḿZulu.

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

What to look up after zulu