The ancient pictograph for this letter is and is some type of agricultural implement similar to a mattock or plow. The meanings of this letter are “harvest” or “crop” as this tool is used in the harvesting, “food” as from the harvest, “cut” from the function of the implement and “broad” from its shape.

The Modern Hebrew name for this letter is “zayin” but was originally the parent root “zan”. When the Greeks adopted the letter its name was originally “zan” but later became “zeta”, the modern name for this letter in the Greek alphabet.

The phonetic sound for this letter is a “z” as it is in Greek and Arabic.

The Early Semitic pictograph was simplified to and evolving into in the Late Semitic script and evolved into the Modern Hebrew letter ז . The Greeks and Romans adopted this letter to become the letter “Z”. The Late Semitic became the number 7.