The Zay are a small ethnic group of about 5,000 people in Ethiopia. They are also known as the Laki. They live on the islands of Lake Zway, south of Addis Ababa, and engage mainly in fishing. The Zay language belongs to the Southern branch of the Ethiopian Semitic language family and is closely related to the languages spoken by the neighboring Gurage ethnic group. The Zay belong to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.