There are five meanings listed in OED's entry for the word zoological, one of which is labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the word zoological?
About 0.6occurrences per million words in modern written English
1770
0.057
1780
0.073
1790
0.09
1800
0.15
1810
0.36
1820
0.51
1830
0.72
1840
0.91
1850
1.1
1860
1.2
1870
1.3
1880
1.4
1890
1.4
1900
1.4
1910
1.3
1920
1.2
1930
1.1
1940
1.0
1950
0.95
1960
0.82
1970
0.73
1980
0.62
1990
0.54
2000
0.49
2010
0.47
How is the word zoological pronounced?
British English
/ˌzuːəˈlɒdʒᵻkl/
zoo-uh-LOJ-uh-kuhl
/ˌzəʊəˈlɒdʒᵻkl/
zoh-uh-LOJ-uh-kuhl
U.S. English
/ˌzuəˈlɑdʒək(ə)l/
zoo-uh-LAH-juh-kuhl
/ˌzoʊəˈlɑdʒək(ə)l/
zoh-uh-LAH-juh-kuhl
Where does the word zoological come from?
Earliest known use
late 1600s
The earliest known use of the word zoological is in the late 1600s.
OED's earliest evidence for zoological is from 1686, in a translation by William Salmon, medical empiric and author.
zoological is formed within English, by derivation.
Of or relating to zoology; belonging or devoted to the scientific study of animals.
1686
That he be knowing and skilful, in all the Icons or Figures used in the Medical Learning, whether Anatomical, Chyrurgical, Phytological, Zoological, or Chymical.
W. Salmon in translation of J. Doläus, Systema Medicinale Preface sig. A6
1781
In this tract is exhibited the first specimen of Linnæus's method of zoological description.
R. Pulteney, General View of Writings of Linnæus 225
1794
The zoological treasures so richly dispersed in the regions of the Southern Hemisphere.
G. Shaw, Vivarium Naturæ, or Naturalist’ s Misc.vol. V. Pl. 175
1815
His numerous zoological and botanical works are sufficiently known.
R. Tweddell in Tweddell's Remains 190 (note)
1837
Molluscous animals had been placed too high in the zoological scale.
W. Whewell, History of Inductive Sciencevol. III.xvii. viii. 465
1856
A charming little zoological curate here, who..is most good-natured in lending and giving apparatus and ‘critturs’ of all sorts.
‘G. Eliot’, Letter 6 June (1954) vol. II. 253
1877
The zoölogical characters by which it is distinguished from other Carnivorous Mammals.
E. Coues, Fur-bearing Animals i. 2
1908
Some new fields are opening for zoological students.
Science 5 June 881/2
1940
Natural History Museum. Week-end reopening of zoological sections.
Times 6 February 6/6 (headline)
1991
A hundred and eighty zoological woodcuts, engravings, and watercolors by artists and naturalists.
New Yorker 6 May 12/3
2011
We were justified in classifying humans as a separate zoological family—the hominids—as distinct from the apes.
C. Stringer, Origin of Our Species (2012) vii. 168
In extended use: of or relating to animals generally.
1816
Having fully considered him in a mechanical and a medical light, as a Block and as a Doctor, he now takes a zoological, or, more accurately, an ornithological view of him.
Morning Chronicle 15 July
1855
One of the apartments has a zoological papering on the walls, not so accurately joined but that the elephant occasionally rejoices in a tiger's hind legs and tail; while the lion puts on a trunk and tusks.
C. Dickens, Holly-tree Inn: Guest in Household Words Extra Christmas No. 6/2
1889
Which is the nobler sort of ancestry—the purely zoological, or the spiritual?
H. P. Liddon, Magnificat iv. 91
1906
A little girl who has a series of zoological adventures of the ‘Alice’ type.
Bystander 5 December p. xx/2
1935
Organized rioters protested with zoological noises of many kinds against a slight increase in prices.
Times 4 December 15/4
2000
Debenhams has gone zoological with mock croc and snakeskin.
Designating an establishment in which wild animals kept in enclosures for study, conservation, or display to the public. Cf. zoological gardenn., zoon. 1a.
1827
We hope it [sc. a camelopard] will ere long find its way to the Zoological establishment in the Regent's Park.
La Belle Assemblée 1 September 137/1
1828
The success of the zoological exhibition in the Regent's Park has so far exceeded expectation, that the managers talk of giving a fete champetre.
Standard 30 September
1899
A splendid stretch of 261 acres of country, that is destined to accommodate one of the finest collections of wild animals in the world, and will be known as the New York Zoological Park, was formally opened..yesterday.
New York Times 9 November 14/3
1978
Stellingen itself remains the finest example of the use of moated enclosures in zoological parks.
B. Jordan & S. Ormrod, Last Great Wild Beast Show i. 48
2014
The research and study zoo is believed to be the only zoological center on a university campus anywhere.
Jerusalem Post (Nexis) 21 November 14
3.b.
1843–
Of, from, or relating to such an establishment.
1843
Me, who have no more notion of engineering than a Zoological monkey of driving piles.
T. Hood in F. F. Broderip, Memorials T. Hood (1860) vol. II. 152
1858
Imagine the hero of Redclyffe..going about..with the ‘lion roused in him,’ his ‘hazel eye gleaming like an eagle's,’ and a whole zoological-garden-full of symptoms constantly making him uncomfortable.
Household Words 18 December 51/1
1865
You would have said that Nature..had meant that grim and haggard visage to glare out of a zoological cage.
Penny Illustr. Paper 4 November 367/1
1923
However well satisfied captive wild animals may be in a zoological cage, there are always sentimental persons who find cause to pity the beasts.
Popular Mechanics May 660/1
1985
The Boston-born zoological director, hopes eventually to introduce a wildlife education program, such as the one the San Diego Zoo conducts.
Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 26 January
2015
Zoological manager Mark Wanner..handled the boa constrictor and tortoises.
St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Despatch (Nexis) 12 April h1
† noun
1831–90
Short for zoological gardenn.; spec. that of the Zoological Society of London at Regent's Park. Cf. zoon. 1a. Obsolete.
1831
I..passed three hours with some new foreigners at the Zoological, which is the best lounge of London.
J. Jekyll, Letter 15 August in Correspondence (1894) ix. 279
1868
After this, to operas, and to the drive of an afternoon, and the Zoological on Sunday.
A. Edwards, Susan Fieldingvol. I. vi. 109
1890
After which I never gave any buns to the bears at the Zoological.
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.
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.
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
1700s–
zoological
1800s
zöological
1800s–
zoölogical
Frequency
zoological typically occurs about 0.6 times per million words in modern written English.
zoological is in frequency band 4, which contains words occurring between 0.1 and 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 zoological, adj. & n., 1770–2010
* 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
1770
0.057
1780
0.073
1790
0.09
1800
0.15
1810
0.36
1820
0.51
1830
0.72
1840
0.91
1850
1.1
1860
1.2
1870
1.3
1880
1.4
1890
1.4
1900
1.4
1910
1.3
1920
1.2
1930
1.1
1940
1.0
1950
0.95
1960
0.82
1970
0.73
1980
0.62
1990
0.54
2000
0.49
2010
0.47
Frequency of zoological, adj. & n., 2017–2024
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Modern frequency series are derived from a corpus of 20 billion words, covering the period from 2017 to the present. The corpus is mainly compiled from online news sources, and covers all major varieties of World English.
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 corpus.