diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/completion/completion.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/completion/completion.go
index ac7235efb01..6399ffe20fe 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/completion/completion.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/completion/completion.go
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ limitations under the License.
 package completion
 
 import (
-	"bytes"
 	"io"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
@@ -150,8 +149,7 @@ func runCompletionBash(out io.Writer, boilerPlate string, kubectl *cobra.Command
 }
 
 func runCompletionZsh(out io.Writer, boilerPlate string, kubectl *cobra.Command) error {
-	zshHead := "#compdef kubectl\n"
-
+	zshHead := "#compdef kubectl\ncompdef _kubectl kubectl\n"
 	out.Write([]byte(zshHead))
 
 	if len(boilerPlate) == 0 {
@@ -161,118 +159,5 @@ func runCompletionZsh(out io.Writer, boilerPlate string, kubectl *cobra.Command)
 		return err
 	}
 
-	zshInitialization := `
-__kubectl_bash_source() {
-	alias shopt=':'
-	emulate -L sh
-	setopt kshglob noshglob braceexpand
-
-	source "$@"
-}
-
-__kubectl_type() {
-	# -t is not supported by zsh
-	if [ "$1" == "-t" ]; then
-		shift
-
-		# fake Bash 4 to disable "complete -o nospace". Instead
-		# "compopt +-o nospace" is used in the code to toggle trailing
-		# spaces. We don't support that, but leave trailing spaces on
-		# all the time
-		if [ "$1" = "__kubectl_compopt" ]; then
-			echo builtin
-			return 0
-		fi
-	fi
-	type "$@"
-}
-
-__kubectl_compgen() {
-	local completions w
-	completions=( $(compgen "$@") ) || return $?
-
-	# filter by given word as prefix
-	while [[ "$1" = -* && "$1" != -- ]]; do
-		shift
-		shift
-	done
-	if [[ "$1" == -- ]]; then
-		shift
-	fi
-	for w in "${completions[@]}"; do
-		if [[ "${w}" = "$1"* ]]; then
-			echo "${w}"
-		fi
-	done
-}
-
-__kubectl_compopt() {
-	true # don't do anything. Not supported by bashcompinit in zsh
-}
-
-__kubectl_ltrim_colon_completions()
-{
-	if [[ "$1" == *:* && "$COMP_WORDBREAKS" == *:* ]]; then
-		# Remove colon-word prefix from COMPREPLY items
-		local colon_word=${1%${1##*:}}
-		local i=${#COMPREPLY[*]}
-		while [[ $((--i)) -ge 0 ]]; do
-			COMPREPLY[$i]=${COMPREPLY[$i]#"$colon_word"}
-		done
-	fi
-}
-
-__kubectl_get_comp_words_by_ref() {
-	cur="${COMP_WORDS[COMP_CWORD]}"
-	prev="${COMP_WORDS[${COMP_CWORD}-1]}"
-	words=("${COMP_WORDS[@]}")
-	cword=("${COMP_CWORD[@]}")
-}
-
-__kubectl_filedir() {
-	# Don't need to do anything here.
-	# Otherwise we will get trailing space without "compopt -o nospace"
-	true
-}
-
-autoload -U +X bashcompinit && bashcompinit
-
-# use word boundary patterns for BSD or GNU sed
-LWORD='[[:<:]]'
-RWORD='[[:>:]]'
-if sed --version 2>&1 | grep -q GNU; then
-	LWORD='\<'
-	RWORD='\>'
-fi
-
-__kubectl_convert_bash_to_zsh() {
-	sed \
-	-e 's/declare -F/whence -w/' \
-	-e 's/_get_comp_words_by_ref "\$@"/_get_comp_words_by_ref "\$*"/' \
-	-e 's/local \([a-zA-Z0-9_]*\)=/local \1; \1=/' \
-	-e 's/flags+=("\(--.*\)=")/flags+=("\1"); two_word_flags+=("\1")/' \
-	-e 's/must_have_one_flag+=("\(--.*\)=")/must_have_one_flag+=("\1")/' \
-	-e "s/${LWORD}_filedir${RWORD}/__kubectl_filedir/g" \
-	-e "s/${LWORD}_get_comp_words_by_ref${RWORD}/__kubectl_get_comp_words_by_ref/g" \
-	-e "s/${LWORD}__ltrim_colon_completions${RWORD}/__kubectl_ltrim_colon_completions/g" \
-	-e "s/${LWORD}compgen${RWORD}/__kubectl_compgen/g" \
-	-e "s/${LWORD}compopt${RWORD}/__kubectl_compopt/g" \
-	-e "s/${LWORD}declare${RWORD}/builtin declare/g" \
-	-e "s/\\\$(type${RWORD}/\$(__kubectl_type/g" \
-	<<'BASH_COMPLETION_EOF'
-`
-	out.Write([]byte(zshInitialization))
-
-	buf := new(bytes.Buffer)
-	kubectl.GenBashCompletion(buf)
-	out.Write(buf.Bytes())
-
-	zshTail := `
-BASH_COMPLETION_EOF
-}
-
-__kubectl_bash_source <(__kubectl_convert_bash_to_zsh)
-`
-	out.Write([]byte(zshTail))
-	return nil
+	return kubectl.GenZshCompletion(out)
 }