在许多动画片和表情包里，当角色“睡着”时，头顶总会冒出一串“zzz”。

“zzz”是什么意思？

Why do cartoon characters always have “zzz” above their heads when they sleep? While its exact origin is unclear, the symbol has become a universally recognized sign of sleep.

关于“zzz”这个符号的起源，有以下几种说法：

▌漫画家的创意灵感：

打鼾声≈锯木头声传说美国一位漫画家想描绘人物“打呼噜”的状态，但苦于找不到合适的表达方式。 这时，有人发现，人睡着时发出的鼾声，类似于锯木头时发出的z-z-z-z，于是，漫画家便尝试用“zzz”来表现睡觉打呼噜的声音。

Several theories attempt to explain its popularity. One suggests comic artists borrowed “zzz”to imitate the sound of snoring.

▌字母寓意+视觉联想：

Z≈睡觉的蜷缩姿态

Z是26个英文字母中的最后一个字母，而睡觉是一天中的“最后一个动作”，此外，字母Z的折线形状像人蜷着身体入睡的轮廓，所以综合延展便成了zzz。

Another links the letter “Z” to sleep because it is the last letter of the alphabet and resembles a curled-up sleeping figure.

▌词汇关联：睡觉单词“含Z量”多

英语表达中和“睡觉”相关的词汇，多数含有字母“Z”。如：snooze（打盹）、doze（小睡）、zizz（瞌睡），还有俚语表达：catch some Z's / catch some zzzs=睡一会儿。

Others point out that many English words related to sleep, including snooze, doze and zizz, contain the letter “z.”Informal expressions such as catch some Z's also reinforce this association.

无论以上哪种说法，如今的zzz已成为无数人心照不宣的睡觉表达，甚至还被正式收录进了词典，拥有了“官方身份”！

Whatever its origin, "zzz" is now so widely understood that it has even been included in dictionaries.

“睡觉”相关表达

了解完zzz相关的起源，再来一起看看有关“睡觉”的英文表达吧！

▌hit the sack/hay 上床睡觉

It's almost midnight; I'm going to hit the sack.

快半夜了，我要去睡觉了。

▌out like a light 秒睡

As soon as he lay down on the sofa, he was out like a light.

他一躺在沙发上，就倒头睡着了。

▌toss and turn 翻来覆去睡不着

I tossed and turned all night because of the noisy neighbor.

因为邻居太吵，我整晚都翻来覆去睡不着。

(China Daily)