Definition:Zenith/Linguistic Note

Linguistic Note on Zenith

The word zenith derives from Medieval Latin cenit, a transliteration of the Arabic سَمْت‎ (samt), meaning direction or path) which is itself anabbreviation of سَمْت اَلرَّأْس‎ (samt ar-raʾs), meaning direction of the head).

The US English pronunciation of zenith is zee-nith, while British and other English pronunciation is zen-nith.