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

Because “zh” is a fairly modern construct for transliterating Chinese etc. words. A lot of the words listed have altered that consonant on the journey from Latin and Old French.