The word 'zebra' originates from the Portuguese 'zevra', a term used for a wild equine in the Iberian Peninsula. Portuguese explorers in the 16th century applied this name to the striped African animal they encountered, likely influenced by a similar-sounding word from a West African language like Kongo ('nzimbu' was a term for a type of striped animal hide). This act of linguistic borrowing and repurposing transformed a local European term into the universal English name for the distinctively patterned animal. The word's journey reflects colonial exploration and the European practice of naming new world phenomena with adapted Old World vocabulary.

The word 'zebra' is a simplex loanword. It entered English from Portuguese, which borrowed it from a West African language (likely Kongo). It does not contain separable morphemes within the English spelling system.