zuz, n.

zuz
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zuz_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1921; not fully revised

# zuznoun

## Earlier version

- zuz in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zuz mean?

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

About 0.03occurrences per million words in modern written English

1800 | 0.0044
1810 | 0.0038
1820 | 0.0033
1830 | 0.0029
1840 | 0.0024
1850 | 0.0028
1860 | 0.0076
1870 | 0.023
1880 | 0.026
1890 | 0.03
1900 | 0.032
1910 | 0.038
1920 | 0.04
1930 | 0.038
1940 | 0.027
1950 | 0.027
1960 | 0.028
1970 | 0.029
1980 | 0.027
1990 | 0.028
2000 | 0.028
2010 | 0.028

### How is the noun zuz pronounced?

#### British English

/zuːz/

### Where does the noun zuz come from?

Earliest known use

late 1600s

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

OED's earliest evidence for zuz is from 1688, in the writing of Randle Holme, herald painter.

zuz is a borrowing from Hebrew.

Etymons: Hebrew zūz.

### Nearby entries

1. zuppa, n. 1961–
2. Zurich, n. 1870–
3. Zuricher, n. 1673–
4. zurla, n. 1940–
5. zurlite, n. 1826–
6. zurna, n. 1870–
7. zurr, n. 1803–
8. zussmanite, n. 1965–
9. zut, int. 1915–
10. zuur-veldt, n. 1785–
11. zuz, n.1688–
12. zwanziger, n. 1828–
13. Zweig, n. 1973–
14. zwieback, n. 1894–
15. zwieselite, n. 1861–
16. Zwinglian, n. & adj. 1532–
17. Zwinglianism, n. 1581–
18. Zwinglianist, n. 1673–1759
19. zwischenzug, n. 1941–
20. zwitterion, n. 1906–
21. zwitterionic, adj. 1946–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Hebrew.
Etymon: Hebrew zūz.
< post-biblical Hebrew zūz.

## Meaning & use

1. 1688–
   A silver coin anciently in use among the Jews, the fourth part of a silver shekel.
   1. 1688

      > A Zuz or Zuzim shekil.

      R. Holme, Academy of Armory iii. 25/2
   2. 1858

      > Zuzah, an ancient Hebrew silver coin, worth about 6d.

      P. L. Simmonds, Dictionary of Trade Products
   3. 1877

      > A blow on the ear was variously set at the fine of a shilling or a pound: a blow on the one cheek at two hundred zuzees.

      J. C. Geikie, Life & Words of Christ vol. II. xxxvi. 71
   coins and banknotes
   1. ounce Old English–1382
      = shekel, n. 1. Obsolete. rare.
   2. sicle c1230–1649
      A shekel.
   3. scriple a1382
      A unit of ancient Hebrew weight, equal to one twentieth of a shekel (approx. 0.568 grams); = gerah, n.
   4. mnam c1400
      = mina, n. 1.
   5. silverling 1526–
      A shekel.
   6. gerah 1534–
      A Hebrew coin and weight, the twentieth part of a shekel.
   7. shekel 1560–
      (a) An ancient unit of weight of the Babylonians, and hence of the Phœnicians, Hebrews, and others, equal to one-sixtieth of a mina (see mina, n.…
   8. cichar 1597–
      A talent.
   9. maneh 1611–
      An ancient Semitic unit of weight: = mina, n.
   10. zuz 1688–
       A silver coin anciently in use among the Jews, the fourth part of a silver shekel.
   11. mina 1737
       A monetary unit formerly used in Greece and the Middle East, equivalent to the weight of one mina in silver. (Rendered ‘pound’ in some English…
   12. mna 1737
       = mina, n.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zuːz/

####

##### 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

Plural zuzim; also zuzees.

## Frequency

zuz typically occurs about 0.03 times per million words in modern written English.

zuz is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 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 zuz, n., 1800–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1800 | 0.0044
1810 | 0.0038
1820 | 0.0033
1830 | 0.0029
1840 | 0.0024
1850 | 0.0028
1860 | 0.0076
1870 | 0.023
1880 | 0.026
1890 | 0.03
1900 | 0.032
1910 | 0.038
1920 | 0.04
1930 | 0.038
1940 | 0.027
1950 | 0.027
1960 | 0.028
1970 | 0.029
1980 | 0.027
1990 | 0.028
2000 | 0.028
2010 | 0.028

zuz, n. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.

zuz, n. was last modified in December 2024.