zaï
French, noun\zaj\
zaï is spelled Z-A-Ï (3 letters) and appears about once in every 12 million words in written French, the 113,280th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Zaï is a French masculine noun meaning “an African agricultural technique consisting of sowing in holes that naturally concentrate water and fertilizers by simple runoff” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Technique culturale soudano-sahélienne de récupération de terres dégradées, consistant à creuser des…”.
What does zaï mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculinean African agricultural technique consisting of sowing in holes that naturally concentrate water and fertilizers by simple runoff
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Variante orthographique de zaïn.
noun: 1. Technique culturale soudano-sahélienne de récupération de terres dégradées, consistant à creuser des microbassins ou des poquets qui recueillent les eaux de ruissellement, à y apporter localement de la matière organique, puis à y semer ou planter. 2. Microbassin, cuvette ou poquet creusé et aménagé selon cette technique.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of zaï
- zaïs plural
- zaïn
- zāy
- zay
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce zaï?
- \zaj\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is zaï in French?
zaï appears about once in every 12 million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).