zem

zem (plural zems)

1. (informal) A zemidjan.
   • 2009, Anthony Ham, West Africa, page 109:

     The name of the hotel will draw a blank with most zems so try asking for 'Les Paillotes'.

   • 2013, Simon Richmond, Stuart Butler, Lonely Planet Africa:

     The omnipresence of zems (zemijohns; motorbike taxis) has translated into the near disappearance of car taxis […]

• MEZ

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *zemь, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *źemē (“ground”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰéǵʰōm. Compare země which comes from Proto-Slavic *zemľa.

• IPA^(key): [ˈzɛm]

• Audio:

  (file)

zem f

1. earth
2. country (nation state or a political entity)

• země

• “zem”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “zem”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “zem”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

Common Balto-Slavic root; compare to zeme.

zem (with genitive)

1. under

• apakš

• zeme
• zems, zemisks, zemiskums

zem

1. nonstandard spelling of zěm

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *zemľa, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *źemē (“ground”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰéǵʰōm.

• IPA^(key): [zem]

zem f

1. earth

• Zem
• zemina

• “zem”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *źémē, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰéǵʰōm. Compare Lithuanian žẽmė, Latvian zeme, Old Prussian semmē.^[1][2]

zem

1. earth, land, soil
   • “Pagan dialects from Narew” line 12, (copied by V. Zinov, 1983):

     ziemie — zem

     ziemie — land