zeroize, v.

zeroize
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zeroize_v%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zeroizeverb

## Earlier version

- zeroize, v. in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the verb zeroize mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the verb zeroize. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the verb zeroize?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1890 | 0.0011
1900 | 0.0012
1910 | 0.0014
1920 | 0.0014
1930 | 0.0017
1940 | 0.002
1950 | 0.0023
1960 | 0.0022
1970 | 0.0024
1980 | 0.0025
1990 | 0.0026
2000 | 0.0027
2010 | 0.0029

### How is the verb zeroize pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɪərəʊʌɪz/
ZEER-oh-ighz

#### U.S. English

/ˈzɪroʊˌaɪz/
ZEER-oh-ighz
/ˈziroʊˌaɪz/
ZEER-oh-ighz

### Where does the verb zeroize come from?

Earliest known use

1890s

The earliest known use of the verb zeroize is in the 1890s.

OED's earliest evidence for zeroize is from 1894, in Journal of United States Artillery.

zeroize is formed within English, by derivation.

Etymons: zero n., ‑ize suffix.

### Nearby entries

1. zero-G, adj. & n. 1950–
2. zero grade, n. 1888–
3. zero gravity, n. & adj. 1915–
4. zero-graze, v. 1954–
5. zero-grazed, adj. 1958–
6. zero grazing, n. 1954–
7. zero growth, n. 1907–
8. zero hour, n. 1915–
9. zero-hours, adj. 1988–
10. zeroing, n. 1906–
11. zeroize, v.1894–
12. zero-length, adj. 1945–
13. zero-line, n. 1834–
14. zero magnet, n. 1890–
15. zero mark, n. 1821–
16. zero meridian, n. 1849–
17. zero norm, n. 1966–
18. zero option, n. 1976–
19. zero-order, adj. 1919–
20. zero plane, n. 1842–
21. zero point, n. 1789–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by derivation.
< zero n. + ‑ize suffix.

## Meaning & use

1. 1894–
   transitive. To adjust (an instrument or device) to give a zero reading, esp. for the purposes of calibration; to assign a value of zero to. Cf. zero v. 4.
   1. 1894

      > Some means for standardizing or zeroizing the instrument when in use is desirable.

      Journal of United States Artillery October 723
   2. 1914

      > Mr. Trinks has invented a device which disengages the pawls from the number wheels when the latter are being zeroised.

      E. M. Horsburgh, Modern Instruments & Methods of Calculation 87
   3. 1945

      > It is said to enable operational errors to be rectified in a matter of moments, and the calculations to be continued without the waste of time involved by ‘zeroising’ the machine and restarting the calculations from the beginning.

      Chambers's Journal December 671/1
   4. 1974

      > Integer Function JCV12C converts a positive integer L (L < 256) to a character in A1 format, zeroizing bits 24 to 1.

      Software World vol. 5 v. 12
   5. 2005

      > If a bird went down, the operating procedure was to attempt to recover the crew, and then destroy the aircraft after zeroizing the crypto equipment in the radios.

      J. A. Stout, Hammer from Above xvi. 164
   measurement
   1. calibrate 1863–
      transitive. To determine the correct position, value, capacity, etc., of; to set an instrument so that readings taken from it are absolute rather…
   2. zeroize 1894–
      transitive. To adjust (an instrument or device) to give a zero reading, esp. for the purposes of calibration; to assign a value of zero to. Cf. zero…
   3. zero 1928–
      transitive. To adjust (an instrument or device) to give a zero reading, esp. for the purposes of calibration.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɪərəʊʌɪz/
ZEER-oh-ighz

### U.S. English

/ˈzɪroʊˌaɪz/
ZEER-oh-ighz
/ˈziroʊˌaɪz/
ZEER-oh-ighz

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye*
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

* /d/ also represents a 'tapped' /t/ as in

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- ifleece, happy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- ætrap, bath
- ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
- ɑrstart
- ɔcloth, thought
- ɔrnorth, force
- ʊfoot
- ugoose
- əstrut, comma
- ərnurse, letter
- ɪ(ə)rnear
- ɛ(ə)rsquare
- ʊ(ə)rcure
- eɪface
- aɪpride
- aʊmouth
- oʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ɑ̃gratin
- æ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.

##### Consonants

b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values

- gguy
- jjay
- yyore
- chchore
- khloch
- shshore
- ththaw
- dhthee
- zhbeige

##### Vowels

- atrap
- ahpalm
- airsquare
- arstart
- arrcarry (British only)
- awthought
- ayface
- a(ng)gratin
- edress
- eefleece
- eerdeer
- errmerry
- ikit
- ighpride
- irrmirror
- olot (British only)
- ohgoat
- oogoose
- oorcure
- orforce
- orrsorry (British only)
- owmouth
- oyvoice
- o(ng)salon
- ustrut
- uhletter
- urnurse
- urrhurry
- uufoot

## Forms

### Variant forms

1. 1800s–
   zeroize
2. 1900s–
   zeroise

## Frequency

zeroize typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zeroize is in frequency band 2, which contains words occurring between 0.001 and 0.01 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands

Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zeroize, v., 1890–2010

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.

The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.

For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.

Decade | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
1890 | 0.0011
1900 | 0.0012
1910 | 0.0014
1920 | 0.0014
1930 | 0.0017
1940 | 0.002
1950 | 0.0023
1960 | 0.0022
1970 | 0.0024
1980 | 0.0025
1990 | 0.0026
2000 | 0.0027
2010 | 0.0029

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zeroizing, n. 1903–

zeroize, v. was revised in June 2018.

zeroize, v. was last modified in September 2024.