A zebra crossing (British English) or a marked crosswalk (American English) is a pedestrian crossing marked with white stripes (zebra markings). Normally, pedestrians are afforded precedence over vehicular traffic, although the significance of the markings may vary by jurisdiction.

The first zebra crossing in the world was installed in Slough, United Kingdom, in 1951 to enhance pedestrian safety at new and already existing crossing points. Since then, zebra markings have come to be used internationally to denote pedestrian crossings, though many have been replaced by various types of signalised crossing due to safety concerns.

Terminology and usage of the markings varies by country. In the UK and other Commonwealth countries, they are usually called zebra crossings, as the stripes resemble the striped coat of a zebra. In the UK and some other European countries, zebra markings are only found at unsignalised, standalone crossings without traffic signals and must be accompanied with upright belisha beacons; in this context, the striped markings indicate absolute priority for pedestrians. In North America and in much of Continental Europe, they can be found at any type of crossing; in this context, zebra markings may or may not indicate pedestrian priority, and this priority may be dependent on traffic signals.

The origin of the zebra title is debated. It is generally attributed to British MP James Callaghan who, in 1948, visited the country's Transport and Road Research Laboratory which was working on a new idea for safe pedestrian crossings. On being shown a black and white design, Callaghan is said to have remarked that it resembled a zebra. Callaghan did not himself claim authorship of the term.

The first zebra crossing was introduced on Slough High Street in the United Kingdom on 31 October 1951. Pedestrian crossings with Belisha beacons had been in use in the UK since the 1930s, originally introduced under Section 18 of the Road Traffic Act, 1934. The Belisha beacon is an upright crossing marking, still required at zebra and parallel crossings in the UK, named after the Minister of Transport in 1934, Leslie Hore-Belisha.

However, with an increase of car traffic, the effectiveness of the beacons was waning; both pedestrians and drivers were ignoring the crossing. From 1949 to 1951, the then-named Ministry of Transport experimented with designs to improve visibility and increase usage, until the familiar black and white stripes were introduced. The zebra crossing was then trialed at 1,000 experimental sites across the UK at this time. The zebra markings are credited to physicist and traffic engineer George Charlesworth, who was the first head of the traffic section at the Road Research Laboratory.

The crossing is characterized by longitudinal stripes on the road, parallel to the flow of the traffic, alternately a light colour and a dark one. The similarity of these markings to those of a zebra gave rise to the crossing's name. The light colour is usually white and the dark colour may be painted – in which case black is typical – or left unpainted if the road surface itself is dark. The stripes are typically 40–60 cm (16–24 in) wide.^{[citation needed]}

Sometimes, zebra crossings are placed on a speed bump, meaning the zebra crossing is level with the pavement. This is done to make it safer for pedestrians to cross, since drivers need to slow down to go over the speed bump. However, this is more expensive than a traditional zebra crossing, and can impede the flow of traffic and response times for emergency vehicles, especially on roads with higher speed limits.