Zendicism, n.

zendicism
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zendicism_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# Zendicismnoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun Zendicism mean?

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

### How common is the noun Zendicism?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1780 | 0.0014
1790 | 0.0026
1800 | 0.0023
1810 | 0.0021
1820 | 0.0016
1830 | 0.0017
1840 | 0.0016
1850 | 0.0015
1860 | 0.0004
1870 | 0.0003
1880 | 0.0001
1890 | 0.0001
1900 | 0.0001
1910 | 0.0001
1920 | 0.0001
1930 | 0.0001
1940 | 0.0001
1950 | 0.0001
1960 | 0.0001
1970 | 0.0001
1980 | 0.0002
1990 | 0.0002
2000 | 0.0001
2010 | 0.0001

### How is the noun Zendicism pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɛndᵻsɪz(ə)m/
ZEN-duh-siz-uhm

#### U.S. English

/ˈzɛndəˌsɪzəm/
ZEN-duh-siz-uhm

### Where does the noun Zendicism come from?

Earliest known use

late 1600s

The earliest known use of the noun Zendicism is in the late 1600s.

OED's earliest evidence for Zendicism is from 1697, in the writing of Humphrey Prideaux, dean of Norwich and author.

Zendicism is formed within English, by derivation.

Etymons: Zindiq n., ‑ism suffix.

### Nearby entries

1. zenana cloth, n. 1885–
2. Zen Buddhist, adj. & n. 1917–
3. Zend, n. & adj. 1700–
4. zendaletto, n. 1789–
5. Zend-Avesta, n. 1630–
6. Zend-Avestaic, adj. 1816
7. Zend-Avestan, adj. & n. 1871–
8. Zend-Avestic, adj. 1864–
9. Zendic, n. & adj. 1771–
10. Zendician, n. a1833–66
11. Zendicism, n.1697–
12. Zendish, adj. & n. 1802–1921
13. Zendist, n. 1877–1907
14. zendo, n. 1914–
15. Zener, n.¹ 1934–
16. Zener, n.² 1949–
17. Zengakuren, n. 1950–
18. Zen garden, n. 1937–
19. zenick, n. 1801–1900
20. zenitfer, n. 1596–
21. zenith, n. & adj. a1387–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by derivation.
Etymons: Zindiq n., ‑ism suffix.
Apparently < Zindiq n. (compare the forms at that entry) + ‑ism suffix.

Compare slightly earlier Zindikite n.…
Apparently < Zindiq n. (compare the forms at that entry) + ‑ism suffix.

Compare slightly earlier Zindikite n.

### Notes

With quot. 1697 compare also the isolated English formation †Zendikees (plural), which Prideaux used to denote the adherents of these beliefs (in a different work, also in 1697); compare French †Zindiki, plural (1670 in a translation of the passage cited in quot. 1667 at Zindiq n.). These apparently reflect a derivative of Persian zandīk heretic (see Zindiq n.); compare ‑ī, suffix expressing belonging. Compare also Persian zindīqī heresy (zindīq heretic (< Arabic zindīq: see Zindiq n.) + ‑ī, suffix).
Compare post-classical Latin Zendicismus, French Zendicisme (both 1698 in translations of the work cited in quot. 1697).

## Meaning & use

rare after 19th cent.

1. 1697–
   Heresy, irreligion. Frequently spec. with reference to Persia or the Ottoman Empire: adherence to any of various sects considered to be heretical, esp. Manichaeism and Mazdakism. Cf. Zindiq n.
   1. 1697

      > Zendicism, an Error among the Arabs near of kin to the Sadducism of the Jews,..denying Providence, the Resurrection, and a Future State.

      H. Prideaux, True Nature of Imposture in Life of Mahomet 13
   2. 1734

      > He has been violently accused of Zendicism, or denying a Providence and the Resurrection.

      Bayle's General Dictionary Historical & Critical (new edition) vol. I. 117
   3. 1759

      > He [sc. Harun Al Rashid] massacred great numbers of his subjects who had embraced Zendicism.

      Modern Part of Universal History vol. II. 322
   4. 1812

      > Deeply polluted as they are by the principles of Zendicism.

      D. Price, Chronol. Retrospect Mahommedan History vol. II. ii. 69
   5. 1877

      > The Persians exulted in crimes and Zendicism abounded.

      W. Smith & H. Wace, Dictionary of Christian Biography vol. I. 477/2
   6. 1935

      > A new faith, Zendicism, which, according to its enemies at least, inculcated not only the community of property, but also of wives.

      C. Roth, Bird's-eye View Jewish History xi. 122
   7. 1992

      > Accusing the Democrats of everything from atheism to zendicism, they are running for cover.

      Times Reporter (Dover, Ohio) 22 October a4/4
   religion
   1. dwild Old English–1175
      Error, heresy.
   2. misbelief a1225–
      Erroneous or unorthodox religious belief; (an instance of) heresy or false religion; paganism.
   3. heresy?c1225–
      Theological or religious opinion or doctrine maintained in opposition, or held to be contrary, to the ‘catholic’ or orthodox doctrine of the…
   4. misbelieving 1340–
      The refusal or inability to accept something as true; misbelief; an instance of this.
   5. irreligion 1592–1655
      A false or perverted religion. Obsolete.
   6. miscredence 1603
      Misbelief.
   7. steal-truth 1628
      A heresy.
   8. Zendicism 1697–
      Heresy, irreligion. Frequently spec. with reference to Persia or the Ottoman Empire: adherence to any of various sects considered to be heretical…
   9. pseudo-religion 1856–
   10. mescroyance 1876
       Misbelief. (pseudo-archaic in quot.)
   11. Manichaeism 1894–
       A religious system with Christian, Gnostic, and pagan elements, founded in the 3rd cent. a.d. and widespread in the Roman Empire and Asia until…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɛndᵻsɪz(ə)m/
ZEN-duh-siz-uhm

### U.S. English

/ˈzɛndəˌsɪzəm/
ZEN-duh-siz-uhm

####

##### 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

Also with lower-case initial.

## Frequency

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

Zendicism 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 Zendicism, n., 1780–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1780 | 0.0014
1790 | 0.0026
1800 | 0.0023
1810 | 0.0021
1820 | 0.0016
1830 | 0.0017
1840 | 0.0016
1850 | 0.0015
1860 | 0.0004
1870 | 0.0003
1880 | 0.0001
1890 | 0.0001
1900 | 0.0001
1910 | 0.0001
1920 | 0.0001
1930 | 0.0001
1940 | 0.0001
1950 | 0.0001
1960 | 0.0001
1970 | 0.0001
1980 | 0.0002
1990 | 0.0002
2000 | 0.0001
2010 | 0.0001

Originally published as part of the entry for Zindiq, n.

Zendicism, n. was revised in June 2018.

Zendicism, n. was last modified in September 2024.