ZIMBI is valid in Collins, not in North America — 18 points
It depends on the list you play by. ZIMBI is in Collins, used in the UK and most of the world, but it is not in the North American lists — so in a US or Canadian game an opponent can challenge it off the board. Worth 18 points. Words with Friends does not accept it either.
Which word lists accept ZIMBI?
| Official Scrabble Players DictionaryUSA, Canada, Thailand | Not listed |
|---|---|
| Official Tournament and Club Word ListUSA, Canada, Thailand | Not listed |
| Collins Scrabble WordsEnglish in most countries | Valid |
| Words with FriendsZynga word list | Not listed |
Word power: 46 / 100
Our own measure of how useful ZIMBI is to know. It scores 18 from 5 tiles, takes 1 hook, and its letters make up 4.6% of the bag. How this number is calculated
Hooks for ZIMBI
Front hooks — 0
None.
Back hooks — 1
zimbisChecked against OSPD, TWL, CSW, WWF. Takes an S, so it hooks onto plurals easily.
How ZIMBI scores
Face value of the 5 tiles in ZIMBI, before any board multiplier.
Tiles you need
| Letter | Needed | In the bag |
|---|---|---|
| z | 1 | 1 |
| i | 2 | 9 |
| m | 1 | 2 |
| b | 1 | 2 |
Drawing exactly these 5 tiles as an opening rack: 1 in 522,830.
What does ZIMBI mean in Scrabble?
noun
historical
A cowrie shell used as a form of money in parts of Africa.
Communities along stretches of the African coast and interior once counted the zimbi by the string or the basket to pay for goods, much as coins are counted today, before printed currency replaced shell money in trade. The zimbi names the shell specifically in its role as currency rather than as a natural object.
How ZIMBI is used
Historical; used when describing pre-colonial and colonial-era African trade.
- Traders once counted out zimbi shells to pay for cloth and salt.
- The museum display included a string of zimbi used as currency.
- A single zimbi bought little, so large purchases required baskets of them.
- Colonial records mention the zimbi alongside other early forms of African money.
- Collectors now prize an old zimbi more as a curiosity than as currency.
Written for this site: 1 meaning of ZIMBI and 5 example sentences, not copied from a published dictionary.
Words starting with ZIMBI
1 longer words begin with ZIMBI.
Shorter words from the letters in ZIMBI
Common questions about ZIMBI
- Is ZIMBI valid in Words with Friends?
- No. Words with Friends keeps its own list, separate from the Scrabble dictionaries, and ZIMBI is not in it.
- How many points is ZIMBI worth?
- ZIMBI is worth 18 points in Scrabble and 20 points in Words with Friends.
- What does ZIMBI mean?
- A cowrie shell used as a form of money in parts of Africa.
- What letters can be added to ZIMBI?
- ZIMBI takes 1 hook: 0 in front and 1 at the end.
Every word you can build from the 5 letters of ZIMBI:
Open ZIMBI in the Word Finder