zot
English
Etymology 1
A sound effect. Popularized by the Usenet Oracle, a humorous Internet advice service, where the word was used as an irritated dismissal of a question.
Verb
zot (third-person singular simple present zots, present participle zotting, simple past and past participle zotted)
- (slang) To zap, kill, or destroy.
- 1980, Kit Reed, Magic time
- I reached for the handle and it zotted me — an electric shock to the elbow.
- 1997, "Matt Lepinski", Zotting (on Internet newsgroup rec.humor.oracle.d)
- I've heard rumors about the oracle zotting people and I have these questions about zot?
- 1997, "Terry Moore", COPS PUT LIVES ON LINE? (on Internet newsgroup austin.general)
- When a taxi driver, convenience store clerk, pizza deliverer, etc., gets zotted, it is on the back page of the local newspaper and not in out of town newspapers at all.
- 1998, "RosieDawg", watergardening and dogs and Rosie's new toy, OT-ish (on Internet newsgroup rec.ponds)
- electric fence - zotting me was fine (well really!) but they were worried about zotting the several dozen human puppies that hang around at our house.
- 1980, Kit Reed, Magic time
Etymology 2
Sound effect in the comic strip B.C., first published in 1958, associated with both (1) the rapid tongue of an anteater character and (2) lightning bolts.
Albanian
Etymology
From older zota, from Proto-Albanian *dzwāpt, from *w(i)tspáti, from Proto-Indo-European *wiḱpótis (“clan leader”) (compare Lithuanian viēšpats, Avestan 𐬬𐬍𐬯𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌 (vīspaiti)), compound of *weyḱ- (“clan, extended family”) (compare Ancient Greek οἰκία (oikía, “house (clan)”), Avestan 𐬬𐬌𐬚 (viθ, “royal court”)) and *pótis (“master”) (compare Ancient Greek πόσις (pósis, “husband”), Tocharian A pats (“husband”)).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /zɔt/
Noun
zot m (indefinite plural zotër, definite singular zoti, definite plural zotërit)
Derived terms
Noun
zot m (indefinite plural zotët, definite singular zoti)
References
- Fialuur i voghel Sccyp e ltinisct (Small Dictionary of Albanian and Latin), page 151, by P. Jak Junkut, 1895, Sckoder
Dutch
Etymology
From Middle Dutch sot, a borrowing from Old French sot, from Medieval Latin sottus, of unknown origin. Compare Old English sott (“foolish, stupid”), English sot.
Pronunciation
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -ɔt
Usage notes
Mainly Brabantian.
Inflection
Inflection of zot | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
uninflected | zot | |||
inflected | zotte | |||
comparative | zotter | |||
positive | comparative | superlative | ||
predicative/adverbial | zot | zotter | het zotst het zotste | |
indefinite | m./f. sing. | zotte | zottere | zotste |
n. sing. | zot | zotter | zotste | |
plural | zotte | zottere | zotste | |
definite | zotte | zottere | zotste | |
partitive | zots | zotters | — |
Mauritian Creole
Etymology
From French les autres (“the other guys”).
In French, the plural word autres is commonly preceded by a word, such as aux, les or mes, whose final s or x is not pronounced except in front of vowels, where it is pronounced /z/. As a result, autres was reanalyzed as having /z/ at the beginning.
Pronoun
zot
Usage notes
When usage might be ambiguous, zot is reserved for second-person plural and bann-la is used instead for third-person plural.