Zamia, n.

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

# Zamianoun

## Earlier version

- Zamia in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun Zamia mean?

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

About 0.03occurrences per million words in modern written English

1810 | 0.093
1820 | 0.1
1830 | 0.1
1840 | 0.1
1850 | 0.1
1860 | 0.11
1870 | 0.1
1880 | 0.1
1890 | 0.094
1900 | 0.087
1910 | 0.081
1920 | 0.078
1930 | 0.077
1940 | 0.058
1950 | 0.044
1960 | 0.038
1970 | 0.033
1980 | 0.032
1990 | 0.032
2000 | 0.028
2010 | 0.029

### How is the noun Zamia pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzeɪmɪə/
ZAY-mee-uh

### Where does the noun Zamia come from?

Earliest known use

1810s

The earliest known use of the noun Zamia is in the 1810s.

OED's earliest evidence for Zamia is from 1819, in a translation by John Lindley, botanist and horticulturist.

Zamia is a borrowing from Latin.

### Nearby entries

1. Zamazim, n. a1400–
2. Zambian, adj. & n. 1959–
3. Zambianization, n. 1964–
4. Zambianize, v. 1964–
5. zambo, n. 1819–
6. Zamboni, n. 1965–
7. zambra, n. 1672–
8. zambuk, n. 1906–
9. zamburak, n. 1825–
10. zami, n. 1977–
11. Zamia, n.1819–
12. zamindar, n. 1683–
13. zamindari, n. & adj. 1742–
14. zamindarship, n. 1698–1902
15. zamioid, adj. 1860–
16. zamorin, n. 1582–
17. zampino, n. 1881–
18. zampogna, n. 1740–
19. zampone, n. 1860–
20. zamzawed, adj. 1743–
21. Zamzummim, n. 1530–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Latin.
modern Latin (Linnæus, 1767), taken < zamiae, misreading for azaniae pine-nuts which open on the tree, in Pliny N.H. xvi. xxvi. 44.

## Meaning & use

Botany.

1. 1819–
   A genus of cycadaceous plants, natives of the tropical and subtropical parts of North America, the West Indies, and South Africa, resembling dwarf palms, with fern-like leaves and oblong cones; a plant of this genus.
   1. 1819

      > The embryo of Zamia is reversed with regard to the pericarp, and occupies an axile cavity in a large endosperm.

      J. Lindley, translation of L.-C. Richard, Observations on Structure of Fruits & Seeds 74
   2. 1827

      > The Zamia is a palm with a large scaly protuberance above the surface.

      Gard. Magazine vol. II. 425
   3. 1841

      > The native had..gone away to look for Zamia nuts.

      G. Grey, Journal Two Exped. Discov. vol. II. iii. 61
   4. 1847

      > Zamias, cycadeæ, and such plants.

      D. T. Ansted, Ancient World ix. 219
   plants
   1. Zamia 1819–
      A genus of cycadaceous plants, natives of the tropical and subtropical parts of North America, the West Indies, and South Africa, resembling…
   2. cycad 1845–
      A plant of the genus Cycas which gives its name to the Cycadaceæ, a family of Gymnosperms, related to the Conifers, but in appearance resembling…
   3. palm fern 1876–
      a. a cycad; b. rare a tall Australasian tree fern, Cyathea cunninghamii.
   4. Hottentot's head 1884–
      A southern African cycad, Stangeria eriopus (family Stangeriaceae), having a thick trunk and large fern-like leaves.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzeɪmɪə/
ZAY-mee-uh

####

##### 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.

####

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

## Frequency

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

Zamia 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 Zamia, n., 1810–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1810 | 0.093
1820 | 0.1
1830 | 0.1
1840 | 0.1
1850 | 0.1
1860 | 0.11
1870 | 0.1
1880 | 0.1
1890 | 0.094
1900 | 0.087
1910 | 0.081
1920 | 0.078
1930 | 0.077
1940 | 0.058
1950 | 0.044
1960 | 0.038
1970 | 0.033
1980 | 0.032
1990 | 0.032
2000 | 0.028
2010 | 0.029

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zamioid, adj. 1860–
   Belonging to the genus Zamia or tribe Zamieæ.

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

Zamia, n. was last modified in December 2024.