zé

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“zé” sits in 9 confusable pairs (corpus #3,176) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#3,176
frequency rank, Portuguese
42
“Z” headwords
9
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - indivíduo comum, do povo

Corpus desk

Index PT-ze · zé · Portuguese

zé · rank #3,176 · 0 variants · 9 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,176
  • LEN-SHORT 2 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-MID 9 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 42
  • PHOTO-FINISH árabe

Nearest frequency peer: árabe (+1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “zé”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “zé” sits against the nearest ranked Portuguese headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

zé vs zu
50% similar
zé vs zen
33% similar
zé vs zum
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for zé
PropertyValue
Headwordzé
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechNoun
Letters2
Frequency rank#3,176
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs9
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Onde “zé” fica na frequência do português

Da esquerda para a direita: o pouco que carrega a fala diária, depois a cauda longa quase invisível.zécai aqui:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

A escala é logarítmica (cada marca ≈ 10× mais rara). Na mesma faixa de raridade aparecem “árabe” (#3,177), “absolutamente” (#3,178), “amarelo” (#3,180). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for zé is neighbouring look-alikes ("zu", "zen", …), not just typos; it is anoun. Frequency #3,176 among 42 “Z” headwords. 5 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

No misspelling variants are generated for zé in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 9 confusable-pair relationships, "zu", "zen", "zum", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct Portuguese form is zé, spelled Z-É.

Definition

  1. 1
    indivíduo comum, do povo
  2. 2
    indivíduo sem importância, que não tem peso social e é destituído de qualquer poder econômico; joão-ninguém
  3. 3
    (Derivação: por sinédoque) o conjunto dos pobres, dos indivíduos pertencentes à camada inferior de uma sociedade; plebe, ralé
  4. 4
    indivíduo pouco inteligente, ignorante, tolo, de pouco valor; pateta, pacóvio, toleirão
  5. 5
    o órgão genital masculino; pênis

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how zé appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Ele não passa de um zé qualquer.
  2. Nas épocas de recessão, o zé é sempre o mais castigado.

Synonyms

povãozé-povinhoralé

Antonyms

ralé

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "zé"?
"zé" is spelled Z-É.
What does "zé" mean?
As a noun, "zé" means: indivíduo comum, do povo
What words are commonly confused with "zé"?
"zé" is commonly confused with "zu", "zen", "zum". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "zé" come from?
"zé" is a Portuguese word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

What to do next

You've looked up "zé". Here's where to go from here.

  • "zé" maps to 9 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "zu". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #3,176 among Portuguese headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more Portuguese words in the "Z" letter cohort. Z–Z browse

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list