Growth of Zn on Cu(110) with and without the influence of oxygen was investigated by a combination of scanning tunneling microscopy, low-energy ion scattering, and low-energy electron diffraction in analogy to previous studies on growth and oxidation of Zn on Cu(111). Upon room-temperature deposition of submonolayer Zn films on Cu(110), a step-flow growth mode is observed—possibly accompanied by some intermixing—with Zn atoms adopting the fcc(110) structure of the copper substrate. Upon oxidation of submonolayer Zn films at temperatures around 400–500 K, ill-ordered clusters of oxidized zinc are formed, but the Cu(110) substrate becomes oxidized too. Room-temperature deposition of submonolayer amounts of Zn onto a partly oxidized “striped” Cu(110) surface results in partial destruction of the CuO stripes, formation of ZnOx clusters, and in addition growth of Zn “nanowires” with an fcc(110) structure on the clean copper stripes. On the fully developed (2 × 1)O template, zinc atoms adopt a geometry reminiscent of the (2 × 1) reconstructed CuO surface.