zircaloy, n.

zircaloy
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zircaloy_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2021

# zircaloynoun

## Earlier version

- zircaloy in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zircaloy mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zircaloy. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the noun zircaloy?

About 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1950 | 0.021
1960 | 0.018
1970 | 0.016
1980 | 0.015
1990 | 0.017
2000 | 0.013
2010 | 0.012

### How is the noun zircaloy pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzəːkəlɔɪ/
ZUR-kuh-loy

#### U.S. English

/ˈzərkəˌlɔɪ/
ZURR-kuh-loy

### Where does the noun zircaloy come from?

Earliest known use

1950s

The earliest known use of the noun zircaloy is in the 1950s.

OED's earliest evidence for zircaloy is from 1953, in a text by J. W. Holladay et al.

zircaloy is formed within English, by compounding.

Etymons: zirconium n., alloy n.

### Nearby entries

1. zip-tie, v. 1985–
2. zip top, n. 1926–
3. zip-up, adj. & n. 1927–
4. zip wire, n. 1971–
5. zir, pron. 1993–
6. zir, adj. 1993–
7. ziraleet, n. 1794–
8. ziram, n. 1950–
9. zirbal, adj.?a1425–
10. zirbus, n. a1400–
11. zircaloy, n.1953–
12. zircon, n. 1794–
13. zirconate, n. 1820–
14. zircon blue, n. & adj. 1928–
15. zircon earth, n. 1794–
16. zirconia, n. 1794–
17. zirconian, adj. 1802–
18. zirconic, adj. 1804–
19. zirconite, n. 1806–
20. zirconitic, adj. 1883–
21. zirconium, n. 1808–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by compounding.
< zirc- (in zirconium n.) + alloy n.

## Meaning & use

1. 1953–
   Any of several alloys of zirconium with tin and other metals, used chiefly as cladding for nuclear fuel rods. Frequently with following numeral specifying a particular alloy.
   1. 1953

      > This 2.5 wt % tin alloy is now referred to as Zircaloy 1.

      J. W. Holladay et al., Core Shape of Fuel Elements Clad with Zirconium Alloy (Battelle Memorial Inst.) 9
   2. 1963

      > Zircaloy resists corrosion very well in high-temperature water and steam.

      H. R. Clauser, Encyclopedia of Engineering Materials 769/1
   3. 1977

      > Zircaloy is used to designate a series of zirconium, tin, iron, chromium, nickel alloys developed by the U.S. Navy Nuclear Propulsion Program for nuclear service in water-cooled reactors. Zircaloy-1 and Zircaloy-3 are obsolete. Zircaloy-2 and Zircaloy-4 are the most commonly used alloys in nuclear service.

      J. H. Schemel, ASTM Manual Zirconium & Hafnium (ASTM Special Technical Publ. No. 639) i. 6
   4. 2017

      > PWRs [= pressurized water reactors] traditionally use Zircaloy-4 for the fuel cladding.

      B. J. Lewis et al., Fund. Nuclear Engin. iv. 197
   metal industry
   1. steel 1662–
      Applied (after Italian acciaio; cf. steel glass, n. 2) to: An alloy of tin and copper used for making optical ‘spheres’. Obsolete. rare.
   2. potin 1741–
      Archaeology. An alloy of copper and tin, usually with lead and zinc (sometimes perhaps with silver), formerly used in the manufacture of coins…
   3. queen's metal 1785–
      Any of several alloys of tin and antimony with other metals, resembling Britannia metal and formerly used for tableware, teapots, etc.; also figur…
   4. tutania 1790–
      An earlier name for Britannia-metal.
   5. Britannia metal 1800–
      An alloy consisting chiefly of tin, antimony, and copper, resembling silver in appearance and formerly much used for cheap tableware; also called w…
   6. babbitt metal 1850–
      Any of various alloys of tin with smaller quantities of antimony, copper, and usually lead, which are typically used as linings in bearings and…
   7. babbitt 1866–
      Short for babbitt metal n. at sense I.1.
   8. zircaloy 1953–
      Any of several alloys of zirconium with tin and other metals, used chiefly as cladding for nuclear fuel rods. Frequently with following numeral…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzəːkəlɔɪ/
ZUR-kuh-loy

### U.S. English

/ˈzərkəˌlɔɪ/
ZURR-kuh-loy

####

##### 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.

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye*
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

* /d/ also represents a 'tapped' /t/ as in

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.

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

## Forms

### Variant forms

1. 1900s–
   zircalloy, zircaloy, zirkalloy, zirkaloy

## Frequency

zircaloy typically occurs about 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zircaloy 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 zircaloy, n., 1950–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1950 | 0.021
1960 | 0.018
1970 | 0.016
1980 | 0.015
1990 | 0.017
2000 | 0.013
2010 | 0.012

zircaloy, n. was revised in March 2021.

zircaloy, n. was last modified in July 2023.