zoco, n.

zoco
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoco_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1986; not fully revised

# zoconoun

## Earlier version

- zoco in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zoco mean?

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

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1890 | 0.0004
1900 | 0.0005
1910 | 0.0006
1920 | 0.0006
1930 | 0.0011
1940 | 0.0014
1950 | 0.0015
1960 | 0.0016
1970 | 0.0017
1980 | 0.0018
1990 | 0.0019
2000 | 0.0017
2010 | 0.0016

### How is the noun zoco pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɒkəʊ/

### Where does the noun zoco come from?

Earliest known use

1890s

The earliest known use of the noun zoco is in the 1890s.

OED's earliest evidence for zoco is from 1892, in the writing of M. Thomas.

zoco is a borrowing from Spanish.

### Nearby entries

1. zoanthoid, adj. 1854–
2. zoanthropic, adj. 1891–
3. zoanthropy, n. 1856–
4. zoanthus, n. 1841–
5. zoarial, adj. 1896–
6. zoarium, n. 1880–
7. zob, n. 1911–
8. zocalo, n. 1884–
9. zocco, n. 1664–1723
10. zocle, n. 1704–
11. zoco, n.1892–
12. zodiac, n. 1390–
13. zodiacal, adj. 1576–
14. zodiac line, n. 1590
15. zodiac ring, n. 1895–
16. zodiographer, n. 1650
17. zoea, n. 1828–
18. zoeal, adj.?1870–
19. zoetrope, n. 1866–
20. zographer, n. 1570
21. zography, n. 1570

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Spanish.
Spanish, < Arabic: see souk n.

## Meaning & use

1. 1892–
   = souk n.; also transferred.
   1. 1892

      > The Soko is an unpaved square surrounded with booths, outside the walls, where on Thursdays and Sundays, as in Spain, the market is held.

      M. Thomas, Scamper through Spain & Tangier xii. 232
   2. 1903

      > Toledo—? She is at least faithful to the dead past... So she retains her old Soko, and will have naught to do with the correct Plaza de la Constitucion.

      A. F. Calvert, Impressions of Spain 96
   3. 1921

      > Tangier..cosmopolitan enough as it seems to be to any one who ambles through the little zoco, has been administratively mismanaged.

      Chambers's Journal December 817/2
   4. 1924

      > The minaret of the new mosque overlooking the big zoco cuts through the blue.

      Chambers's Journal September 689/2
   5. 1965

      > The Gobierno resembled the zoco of a North African town except that the jewellery boxes, bundles of clothing,..and whimpering children were not for sale.

      C. D. Eby, Siege of Alcázar (1966) i. 34
   1. bazaar 1588–
      A Middle Eastern marketplace or permanent market, usually consisting of ranges of shops or stalls, where all kinds of merchandise are offered for…
   2. bezesteen 1656–
      An exchange, bazaar, or marketplace in the East.
   3. gunge 1776–
      A market.
   4. souk a1817–
      An Arab market or marketplace, a bazaar (sense 1a).
   5. mercado 1841–
      In Spain and Spanish-speaking countries: a market, a marketplace.
   6. zoco 1892–
      = souk, n.; also transferred.
   7. chowk 1895–
      An open place in the middle of a city where the market is held; a main street.
   8. pasar 1907–
      In Malaysia and Indonesia: a market.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɒkəʊ/

####

##### 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

Also Soko.

## Frequency

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

zoco 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 zoco, n., 1890–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1890 | 0.0004
1900 | 0.0005
1910 | 0.0006
1920 | 0.0006
1930 | 0.0011
1940 | 0.0014
1950 | 0.0015
1960 | 0.0016
1970 | 0.0017
1980 | 0.0018
1990 | 0.0019
2000 | 0.0017
2010 | 0.0016

zoco, n. was first published in 1986; not fully revised.

zoco, n. was last modified in December 2024.