zonicadjective
Factsheet
What does the adjective zonic mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the adjective zonic. 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 adjective zonic?
| 1790 | 0.0027 |
| 1800 | 0.0021 |
| 1810 | 0.0018 |
| 1820 | 0.0018 |
| 1830 | 0.0017 |
| 1840 | 0.0016 |
| 1850 | 0.0011 |
| 1860 | 0.0005 |
| 1870 | 0.0005 |
| 1880 | 0.0006 |
| 1890 | 0.0004 |
| 1900 | 0.0003 |
| 1910 | 0.0004 |
| 1920 | 0.0004 |
| 1930 | 0.0004 |
| 1940 | 0.0004 |
| 1950 | 0.0004 |
| 1960 | 0.0003 |
| 1970 | 0.0003 |
| 1980 | 0.0002 |
| 1990 | 0.0002 |
| 2000 | 0.0002 |
| 2010 | 0.0001 |
How is the adjective zonic pronounced?
British English
Where does the adjective zonic come from?
Earliest known use
late 1700s
The earliest known use of the adjective zonic is in the late 1700s.
OED's only evidence for zonic is from 1797, in Monthly Magazine.
zonic is formed within English, by derivation.
Etymons: zone n., ‑ic suffix.
Nearby entries
- zone-melt, v.1982–
- zone melting, n.1952–
- zone plate, n.1890–
- zoner, n.1962–
- zone-refine, v.1962–
- zone refiner, n.1959–
- zone refining, n.1952–
- zone therapy, n.1915–
- zone time, n.1908–
- Zonian, n.1910–
- zonic, adj.1797–
- zoning, n.a1821–
- zonite, n.1860–
- zonitic, adj.1888–
- zonk, v.1950–
- zonk, int.1949–
- zonked, adj.1959–
- zonkey, n.1953–
- zonking, adj.1958–
- zonky, adj.1972–
- zono-, comb. form
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1797–Belonging to a particular zone or region.
- 1797
The zonic gods are those which revolve round the celestial zones.
Monthly Magazine vol. 3 511
- climatical1580–1800Of or relating to the climates (climate, n.¹ 1a) or parallels of latitude. Obsolete. rare.
- co-climatary1652Of the same ‘climate’ or region.
- zonic1797–Belonging to a particular zone or region.
- zonal1882–Pertaining or relating to, involving, or constituting a ‘zone’ or ‘zones’, i.e. regions or areas distinctively characterized in some way: see zone, n.…
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
zonic typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zonic 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 of zonic, adj., 1790–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1790 | 0.0027 |
| 1800 | 0.0021 |
| 1810 | 0.0018 |
| 1820 | 0.0018 |
| 1830 | 0.0017 |
| 1840 | 0.0016 |
| 1850 | 0.0011 |
| 1860 | 0.0005 |
| 1870 | 0.0005 |
| 1880 | 0.0006 |
| 1890 | 0.0004 |
| 1900 | 0.0003 |
| 1910 | 0.0004 |
| 1920 | 0.0004 |
| 1930 | 0.0004 |
| 1940 | 0.0004 |
| 1950 | 0.0004 |
| 1960 | 0.0003 |
| 1970 | 0.0003 |
| 1980 | 0.0002 |
| 1990 | 0.0002 |
| 2000 | 0.0002 |
| 2010 | 0.0001 |