zygocactus, n.

zygocactus
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zygocactus_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1986; not fully revised

# zygocactusnoun

## Earlier version

- zygocactus in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zygocactus mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zygocactus. 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 zygocactus?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1950 | 0.0004
1960 | 0.0004
1970 | 0.0005
1980 | 0.0005
1990 | 0.0005
2000 | 0.0005
2010 | 0.0004

### How is the noun zygocactus pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzʌɪɡəʊkaktəs/

### Where does the noun zygocactus come from?

Earliest known use

1950s

The earliest known use of the noun zygocactus is in the 1950s.

OED's earliest evidence for zygocactus is from 1950, in the writing of V. Higgins.

zygocactus is a borrowing from Latin.

### Nearby entries

1. zygal, adj. 1886–
2. zygantrum, n. 1854–
3. zygapophysial, adj. 1870–
4. zygapophysis, n. 1854–
5. zygite, n. 1888–
6. zygnemaceous, adj.
7. zygnemid, n. 1887–
8. zygnomic, adj. 1926–
9. zygo-, comb. form
10. zygobranchiate, adj. 1883–
11. zygocactus, n.1950–
12. zygocardiac, adj. 1877–
13. zygodactyl, adj. & n. 1831–
14. zygodactylic, adj. 1835–
15. zygodactylous, adj. 1828–
16. zygodont, adj. 1888–
17. zygogenesis, n. 1950–
18. zygology, n. 1970–
19. zygoma, n. 1684–
20. zygomatic, adj. & n. 1712–
21. zygomatico-, comb. form

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Latin.
modern Latin (K. Schumann 1890, in C. F. Martius Flora Braziliensis IV. ii. 223): see zygo- comb. form and cactus n. & adj.

## Meaning & use

Botany.

1. 1950–
   Any cactus of the Brazilian genus Zygocactus (sometimes included in Schlumbergera), the members of which have branched and jointed stems bearing zygomorphic flowers in various shades of red, and are frequently grown as houseplants.
   1. 1950

      > Two other Epiphyllums which have been much cultivated are now placed in Schlumbergera—Schlumbergera Gaertneri and S. Russelliana; both are similar in habit to Zygocactus but the flowers are regular.

      V. Higgins, Cactus Grower's Guide iv. 54
   2. 1962

      > Zygocactus should be watered throughout the year.

      Amateur Gardening 24 March 29/1
   3. 1980

      > Among the new plants on show are..zygocactus in pastel colours with a future as room plants, from Rochford.

      Daily Telegraph 24 September 14/5
   plants
   1. Rochea 1819–
      A genus of southern African succulent plants of the family Crassulaceae (now usually included in Crassula), which have leathery leaves and…
   2. echeveria 1840–
      A handsome genus of succulent plants allied to the house-leek (family Crassulaceæ), extensively used in carpet gardening.
   3. snake plant 1883–
      a. (See quot. 1883); b. = mother-in-law's tongue, n.
   4. zygocactus 1950–
      Any cactus of the Brazilian genus Zygocactus (sometimes included in Schlumbergera), the members of which have branched and jointed stems bearing…
   5. mother-in-law's tongue 1958–
      A tropical African plant, Sansevieria trifasciata (family Dracaenaceae), which has a rosette of long, sword-shaped leaves and is often cultivated as…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzʌɪɡəʊkaktəs/

####

##### 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.

## Forms

### Variant forms

Also Zygocactus.

## Frequency

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

zygocactus is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 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 zygocactus, n., 1950–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1950 | 0.0004
1960 | 0.0004
1970 | 0.0005
1980 | 0.0005
1990 | 0.0005
2000 | 0.0005
2010 | 0.0004

zygocactus, n. was first published in 1986; not fully revised.

zygocactus, n. was last modified in December 2024.