zé
Portuguese, noun
zé is spelled Z-É (2 letters) and appears 28 times per million words in written Portuguese, the 3,133rd most frequent Portuguese word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Zé is a Portuguese masculine noun meaning “joe (stereotypical male given name)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With an accent, zê is a different word: “The name of the Latin script letter Z/z”. The Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) defines it as “indivíduo comum, do povo”.
What does zé mean in English?
noun
- 1
derogatorymasculinejoe (stereotypical male given name)
- 2
masculinepleb, a person of low social class
noun
- 1
masculineThe name of the Latin script letter Z/z.
Source: English Wiktionary, Portuguese section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Portuguese dictionaries define it
noun: 1. indivíduo comum, do povo 2. indivíduo sem importância, que não tem peso social e é destituído de qualquer poder econômico; joão-ninguém 3. (Derivação: por sinédoque) o conjunto dos pobres, dos indivíduos pertencentes à camada inferior de uma sociedade; plebe, ralé 4. indivíduo pouco inteligente, ignorante, tolo, de pouco valor; pateta, pacóvio, toleirão
noun: 1. nome da vigésima sexta e última letra do alfabeto latino, representada pelos símbolos "z", "Z"
noun: 1. apelido referente ao prenome José
The definition in the Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), in Portuguese.
Source: Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of zé
- zés plural
- zês plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to zé
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is zé in Portuguese?
zé appears 28 times per million words in written Portuguese.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).