zaptiehnoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zaptieh mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zaptieh. 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 zaptieh?
| 1860 | 0.15 |
| 1870 | 0.14 |
| 1880 | 0.13 |
| 1890 | 0.12 |
| 1900 | 0.12 |
| 1910 | 0.081 |
| 1920 | 0.059 |
| 1930 | 0.039 |
| 1940 | 0.026 |
| 1950 | 0.0096 |
| 1960 | 0.007 |
| 1970 | 0.0079 |
| 1980 | 0.0094 |
| 1990 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 0.0099 |
| 2010 | 0.011 |
How is the noun zaptieh pronounced?
British English
Where does the noun zaptieh come from?
Earliest known use
1860s
The earliest known use of the noun zaptieh is in the 1860s.
OED's earliest evidence for zaptieh is from 1869, in the writing of Henry Tozer, geographer and classical scholar.
zaptieh is a borrowing from Turkish.
Etymons: Turkish ḍabtiyeh.
Nearby entries
- Zapatismo, n.1913–
- Zapatist, n. & adj.1911–
- Zapatista, n. & adj.1911–
- zapote, n.1842–
- Zapotec, n. & adj.1797–
- zappe, v.c1600
- zapped, adj.1962–
- zapper, n.1969–
- zapping, n.1972–
- zappy, adj.1969–
- zaptieh, n.1869–
- ZAPU, n.1961–
- Zar, n.1868–
- Zarathustrian, adj. & n.1859–
- Zarathustrianism, n.1864–
- Zarathustric, adj.1848–
- Zarathustrism, n.1871–
- zaratite, n.1858–
- zarcole, n.1585–
- zarda, n.1899–
- zardozi, n.1871–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1869–A Turkish policeman.
- 1869
A young Turkish Zaptié, or policeman.
H. F. Tozer, Research Highlands of Turkey vol. II. 100 - 1878
A wretched coffee-house, which was full of zaptiehs, who were quartered here.
translation of F. von Löher's Cyprus xxi. 177
- quarterman1573–1676In France, esp. Paris: a municipal officer responsible for policing a district of a city. Cf. quarter, n. III.13b. Obsolete. rare.
- lascarine1598–1825An East Indian soldier; also, a member of the police force.
- peon1609–1840In parts of South and Southeast Asia. A foot soldier or low-ranking police officer. Obsolete.
- sbirro1670–An Italian police officer.
- exempt1678–1840In the French army. A French police officer. Obsolete exc. Historical.
- kavass1819–An armed constable or police officer, an armed servant or courier (in Turkey).
- ghaffir1831–In Egypt: a policeman; a guardian, watchman.
- Texas Ranger1846–A member of the state constabulary of Texas (formerly, of certain locally mustered regiments in the federal service during the Mexican War).
- carabiniere1847–A member of an Italian Army Corps which serves as a police force.
- zaptieh1869–A Turkish policeman.
- Zarp1895–An appellation for a member of the Boer police force in the pre-1902 South African Republic; a Boer constable.
- flic1899–A French policeman.
- kiap1923–In New Guinea, a European patrol officer or police officer.
- Schupo1923–In Germany, a police officer; also collective, the police force.
- guard1925–Irish English. Usually with capital initial. A member of the Irish police force; a Garda (Garda, n. b). Often in plural, as the Guards: the police.
- provincial1936–A member of a provincial police force in Canada. Now rare.
- Garda1943–A member of the Garda Síochána; an Irish police officer. Used in plural for the police generally.
- Volkspolizist1951–A member of the national police force of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany); an East German police officer. See Volkspolizei, n.
- Vopo1954–(A member of) the Volkspolizei (see Volkspolizei, 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.
Forms
Variant forms
Also zaptié.Frequency
zaptieh typically occurs about 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zaptieh 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 of zaptieh, n., 1860–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1860 | 0.15 |
| 1870 | 0.14 |
| 1880 | 0.13 |
| 1890 | 0.12 |
| 1900 | 0.12 |
| 1910 | 0.081 |
| 1920 | 0.059 |
| 1930 | 0.039 |
| 1940 | 0.026 |
| 1950 | 0.0096 |
| 1960 | 0.007 |
| 1970 | 0.0079 |
| 1980 | 0.0094 |
| 1990 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 0.0099 |
| 2010 | 0.011 |