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Onomatopoetic "Zzz" is well known in languages that use the Latin alphabet. It means "sleep" in many languages. Is this also the case in Russian? Can "Ззз" be used to symbolize sleep?

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    Can "Ззз" be used to symbolize sleep? BTW. "з-зз" in Russian rather stands for mosquito's noise.
    – Matt
    Nov 12, 2016 at 12:20

2 Answers 2

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No, it can not be used to symbolize sleep. Instead of it, we sometimes use "Хррр" to denote sleep.

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    Standalone "хррр" wouldn't be understood as symbol for sleeping. You would need a context, for example, picture
    – Abakan
    Nov 12, 2016 at 12:10
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    Ззз can be used to symbolize a fly or something like that (dragonfly, etc.).
    – Alissa
    Nov 14, 2016 at 10:19
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    Exactly. BTW, хрр comes from храп/храпеть (snoring/to snore). Nov 16, 2016 at 15:16
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    Хрр-пщщ, хрр-пщщ... Nov 21, 2016 at 6:41
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It's rather a well known english meaning by Russians, than the same meaning in Russian.
I.e., most Russians know this englshism, but it came from english-speaking inet and it doesn't, necessarily has any meaning in Russian.

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  • I doubt even the majority of Russians who speaks English know this. I spotted this only when playing online games and initially thought it meant something else.
    – Anixx
    Jun 19, 2022 at 14:32

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