Did you know?
To build on a classic lyric by Bob Dylan, you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows—especially if you know that wind is a zephyr. You see, poets have eulogized Zephyrus, the Greek god of the west wind—and his “swete breeth” (in the words of Geoffrey Chaucer)—for centuries. Zephyrus, the personified west wind, eventually evolved into zephyr, a word for a breeze that is westerly or gentle, or both. Breezy zephyr blew into English with the help of such delightfully windy wordsmiths as William Shakespeare, who used the word in his play Cymbeline: “Thou divine Nature, thou thyself thou blazon’st / In these two princely boys! They are as gentle / As zephyrs blowing below the violet.”
Examples of zephyr in a Sentence
Adam Erace, Travel + Leisure, 14 Oct. 2023
Most summer days on the TMB are luxurious, with zephyrs rustling the pastures, blue skies, and great hiking temperatures.
—Doug Mayer, Outside Online, 15 Feb. 2023
The chilly zephyr of truth.
—Eric Zorn, chicagotribune.com, 22 June 2021
Not some Paris-in-the-springtime zephyr, but something better suited to wintertime and the coast of Brittany.
—Christopher Clarey, New York Times, 7 June 2019
The movements were more scene setting than story telling, with wafting, zephyr-like patterns from piano, the themes eliding wind to string voices in a delicate and tricky texture.
—By Libby Hanssen, kansascity, 16 July 2017
Windsurfers lean into the prevailing southwestern zephyr at incredible speeds.
—Dino Vournas, The Mercury News, 21 May 2017
What lingers from this alien encounter is neither the wizardry nor the climax but the zephyr of emotional intensity that blows through the film.
—Adam Davidson, The New Yorker, 24 Jan. 2017
Cite this Entry
“Zephyr.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/zephyr. Accessed 30 Jun. 2025.
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zephyr
noun
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