zoantharian, adj. & n.

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

# zoantharianadjective & noun

## Earlier version

- zoantharian, a. and n. in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the word zoantharian mean?

There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the word zoantharian. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, 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 word zoantharian?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1850 | 0.0014
1860 | 0.0011
1870 | 0.0011
1880 | 0.001
1890 | 0.0008
1900 | 0.0007
1910 | 0.0005
1920 | 0.0007
1930 | 0.001
1940 | 0.0012
1950 | 0.0016
1960 | 0.0018
1970 | 0.0019
1980 | 0.002
1990 | 0.0021
2000 | 0.0021
2010 | 0.002

### How is the word zoantharian pronounced?

#### British English

/zəʊanˈθɛːrɪən/

### Where does the word zoantharian come from?

Earliest known use

1880s

The earliest known use of the word zoantharian is in the 1880s.

OED's earliest evidence for zoantharian is from 1887, in the writing of Henry Nicholson, biologist and geologist.

zoantharian is a borrowing from Latin, combined with an English element.

Etymons: Latin Zōanthāria, ‑an suffix.

### Nearby entries

1. zizzy, adj. 1843–
2. Zlid, n. 1616–1785
3. Z'life, n. 1689
4. Z line, n. 1916–
5. Z-list, n. & adj. 1979–
6. Z-lister, n. 1999–
7. zloty, n. 1915–
8. Zn, n. 1814–
9. -zoa, comb. form
10. -zoan, comb. form
11. zoantharian, adj. & n.1887–
12. zoanthid, n. 1870–
13. zoanthidan, adj. 1888–
14. zoanthodeme, n. 1877–
15. zoanthoid, adj. 1854–
16. zoanthropic, adj. 1891–
17. zoanthropy, n. 1856–
18. zoanthus, n. 1841–
19. zoarial, adj. 1896–
20. zoarium, n. 1880–
21. zob, n. 1911–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Latin, combined with an English element.
Etymons: Latin Zōanthāria, ‑an suffix.
< modern Latin Zōanthāria neuter plural, < Zōanthus, name of genus, < Greek ζῷον animal + ἄνθος flower, + ‑an suffix.

## Meaning & use

Zoology.

1. adjective
   1. 1887–
      Belonging to the Zoantharia, one of the main divisions of Actinozoa (contrasted with Alcyonaria), containing the sea-anemones and other (often flower-like) animals, usually with simple tentacles and parts arranged in sixes (hexacorallan n.).
      1. 1887

         > Transverse section of a simple Zoantharian Coral (Cyathina Bowerbanki).

         H. A. Nicholson, Manual of Zoology (ed. 7) 186
      2. 1888

         > The Zoantharian mesenterial filaments.

         G. Rolleston & W. H. Jackson, Forms of Animal Life (ed. 2) 733 (note)
      invertebrates
      1. zoantharian 1887–
         Belonging to the Zoantharia, one of the main divisions of Actinozoa (contrasted with Alcyonaria), containing the sea-anemones and other (often…
      View in Historical Thesaurus
2. noun
   1. A member of the Zoantharia.
      invertebrates
      1. zoantharian
         A member of the Zoantharia.
      View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zəʊanˈθɛːrɪən/

####

##### 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.

## Frequency

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

zoantharian 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 data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zoantharian, adj. & n., 1850–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1850 | 0.0014
1860 | 0.0011
1870 | 0.0011
1880 | 0.001
1890 | 0.0008
1900 | 0.0007
1910 | 0.0005
1920 | 0.0007
1930 | 0.001
1940 | 0.0012
1950 | 0.0016
1960 | 0.0018
1970 | 0.0019
1980 | 0.002
1990 | 0.0021
2000 | 0.0021
2010 | 0.002

zoantharian, adj. & n. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.

zoantharian, adj. & n. was last modified in December 2024.