Why are there almost no words in English containing the letter combination “zh”, despite the fact that that the sound is quite common, e.g. “measure”?

Question

Why are there almost no words in English containing the letter combination “zh”, despite the fact that that the sound is quite common, e.g. “measure”?

In: 2657

Answer 1

I’m probably biased from reading translations of Chinese names, but my coworker surnamed Zhang is pronounced Zh-ang with a notable zz buzz rolling into the h followed by any as the second syllable. Whether it’s technically incorrect “Zh” is a lot more accurate than writing it as Shang