English

Verb

zot ‎(third-person singular simple present zots, present participle zotting, simple past and past participle zotted)

1. (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.

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.

Noun

zot ‎(plural zots)

1. (US, slang) An anteater.

Interjection

zot

1. (US) The characteristic sound made by an anteater's tongue or by lightning.

Usage notes

• Associated with the UC Irvine Anteaters.

Albanian

Alternative forms

• (Archaic) (religion) Zojzi

Etymology

From older zota, from Proto-Albanian *dzwāpt, from *w(i)tspáti, from Proto-Indo-European *weyḱpotis ‎(“clan leader”) (compare Lithuanian viēšpats, Avestan 𐬬𐬍𐬯𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌 ‎(vīspaiti)), compound of *wéyḱs ‎(“clan, extended family”) (compare Ancient Greek οἰκία ‎(oikía, “house (clan)”), Avestan [script needed] ‎(viθ-, “royal court”)) and *potis ‎(“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 zotat)

1. master, headman
2. boss, head
3. (religion) Lord, God
4. sir, mister

Alternative forms

• plural:
  • Tosk: zota, zotëra (def. zotërat)
  • Gheg: zotën, zotëna

Derived terms

• zotëri (Tosk), zotëni (Gheg), zotësi, zotërisht, zotoj, zotëroj

Related terms

• zonjë

Noun

zot m (indefinite plural zotët, definite singular zoti)

1. landowner, owner of a wealthy estate
2. lord, head of a wealthy family with servants

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɔt

Adjective

zot ‎(comparative zotter, superlative zotst)

1. crazy
2. mad

Usage notes

Mainly Brabantian.

Inflection

Synonyms

• gek
• getikt
• gestoord

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, there was a misconception among Mauritians not well-acquainted with the French language that the singular word started with /z/.

Pronoun

zot

1. you, y'all (second-person plural personal pronoun)
2. they, them (third-person plural personal pronoun)

Usage notes

When usage might be ambiguous, zot is reserved for second-person plural and bann-la is used instead for third-person plural.

See also