Tan Sri Zainal Abidin bin Ahmad (Jawi: زين العابدين بن أحمد; 16 September 1895 – 23 October 1973) or better known by the moniker Za'aba (alternatively spelled Za'ba, Jawi: زاءبا), was a Malaysian writer and linguist. He modernised the Malay language with the publication of a series of grammar books entitled Pelita Bahasa in 1936 at the Sultan Idris Training College. The book contained guidelines in modernising the structure of classical Malay, transforming it into the language that is in use today: the most significant change was the switch from the conventional passive to the modern active form of syntax.

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