Abstract The lifetime of the state in Cd populated via the Zr ( O, 4n) Cd reaction has been measured with the Recoil Distance Doppler Shift technique in combination with the Differential Decay Curve Method. By subtracting the contamination in the data, the mean lifetime of the =2 633 keV state was determined as 9.9 (12) ps. The value calculated in this study is in good agreement with the experimental systematics and was compared to the shell model calculations.