zopenoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zope mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zope. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
Entry status
OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.
How common is the noun zope?
| 1880 | 0.0005 |
| 1890 | 0.0006 |
| 1900 | 0.0005 |
| 1910 | 0.0005 |
| 1920 | 0.0005 |
| 1930 | 0.0004 |
| 1940 | 0.0012 |
| 1950 | 0.0013 |
| 1960 | 0.0012 |
| 1970 | 0.0029 |
| 1980 | 0.0046 |
| 1990 | 0.0053 |
| 2000 | 0.0063 |
| 2010 | 0.0064 |
How is the noun zope pronounced?
British English
Where does the noun zope come from?
Earliest known use
1880s
The earliest known use of the noun zope is in the 1880s.
OED's only evidence for zope is from 1880, in the writing of A. Günther.
zope is a borrowing from German.
Etymons: German zope.
Nearby entries
- zoot-suited, adj.1942–
- zoot-suiter, n.1942–
- zooty, adj.1942–
- zootype, n.1883–
- zootypic, adj.1853–
- zoowoman, n.1930–
- zooxanthella, n.1882–
- zooxanthellate, adj. & n.1981–
- zooxanthin, n.1868–
- zoozygosphere, n.1880–
- zope, n.1880–
- zophoric, adj.1728–
- zophorus | zoophorus, n.1563–
- zopilote, n.1787–
- zopissa, n.1601–
- zoppa, adj.1740–
- Zoque, n.1891–
- Zoque–Mixe, adj. & n.1893–
- Zorb, n.1996–
- zorbing, n.1996–
- zorgite, n.1852–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1880–A bream, Abramis ballerus.
- 1880
In Europe there occur the ‘Common bream’, A. brama; the ‘Zope’, A [bramis] ballerus.
A. Günther, Introduction to Study of Fishes 603
the world animals fish class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi order Salmoniformes (salmon or trout) superorder Ostariophysi or order Cypriniformes [nouns] suborder Cyprinoidei family Cyprinidae (minnows and carps) member of genus Abramis (bream)- breamc1405–The common name of a freshwater fish (Abramis brama) called also Carp-bream, which inhabits lakes and deep water, and is distinguished by its…
- breamet1462–96A young, or small, bream.
- cud bream1655–72Any of several breams, esp. the common bream, Abramis brama.
- Pomeranian bream1839–A freshwater fish found in Europe, formerly thought to be a thicker-bodied species of bream but later identified as a hybrid of the common bream, Abr…
- zope1880–A bream, Abramis ballerus.
- brim1898–= bream, n. spec. U.S. the long-eared sunfish (Lepomis auritus); cf. bream, n. 2b.
- skimmer1971–Angling. A small bream.
Pronunciation
British English
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
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.
Frequency
zope typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zope 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 of zope, n., 1880–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1880 | 0.0005 |
| 1890 | 0.0006 |
| 1900 | 0.0005 |
| 1910 | 0.0005 |
| 1920 | 0.0005 |
| 1930 | 0.0004 |
| 1940 | 0.0012 |
| 1950 | 0.0013 |
| 1960 | 0.0012 |
| 1970 | 0.0029 |
| 1980 | 0.0046 |
| 1990 | 0.0053 |
| 2000 | 0.0063 |
| 2010 | 0.0064 |