zerovalent, adj.

zerovalent
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zerovalent_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zerovalentadjective

## Earlier version

- zerovalent in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective zerovalent mean?

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

### How common is the adjective zerovalent?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1920 | 0.0019
1930 | 0.003
1940 | 0.003
1950 | 0.0034
1960 | 0.0043
1970 | 0.0052
1980 | 0.006
1990 | 0.006
2000 | 0.0058
2010 | 0.0064

### How is the adjective zerovalent pronounced?

#### British English

/zɪərəʊˈveɪlənt/
zeer-oh-VAY-luhnt

#### U.S. English

/ˌzɪroʊˈveɪlənt/
zeer-oh-VAY-luhnt
/ˌziroʊˈveɪlənt/
zeer-oh-VAY-luhnt

### Where does the adjective zerovalent come from?

Earliest known use

1900s

The earliest known use of the adjective zerovalent is in the 1900s.

OED's earliest evidence for zerovalent is from 1906, in the writing of Joseph Iddings.

zerovalent is formed within English, by compounding.

Etymons: zero n., ‑valent comb. form.

### Nearby entries

1. zero post, n. 1908–
2. zero-power, adj. 1950–
3. zero-rate, v. 1972–
4. zero-rated, adj. 1972–
5. zero rating, n. 1971–
6. zero sound, n. 1957–
7. zero-sum, adj. 1944–
8. zeroth, adj. 1850–
9. zero tillage, n. 1963–
10. zero tolerance, n. 1940–
11. zerovalent, adj.1906–
12. zero waste, adj. & n. 1974–
13. zero-zero, adj. & n. 1930–
14. zerumbet, n. 1640–
15. zest, n.¹ 1674–
16. zest, n.² 1706
17. zest, v. 1702–
18. zest, int. 1705–22
19. zester, n. 1963–
20. zestful, adj. 1797–
21. zestfully, adv. 1843–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by compounding.
< zero n. + ‑valent comb. form.

## Meaning & use

Chemistry.

1. 1906–
   Of an element: having a full outer valence level (and hence a valency of zero); (of a compound or complex) containing an element in this state. Also: of or relating to the condition of having a valency of zero.
   1. 1906

      > It is headed by the rare elements which are not known in chemical combination and are said to have no valence... Zero valent: A, He.

      J. P. Iddings, Rock Minerals i. 6 (table)
   2. 1965

      > The analogous reaction..of the naphthalene complex in its zerovalent formulation..cannot be distinguished from the possible consecutive reactions.

      Journal of Chemical Society 847
   3. 1977

      > Reactions of the zerovalent complex Ni[HP(C6H5)2]4.

      Inorganic Chemistry vol. 16 1313 (heading)
   4. 1984

      > A greater proportion of nickel in the catalytically active zero-valent state.

      Science 22 June 1330/2
   5. 2006

      > Zerovalent iron materials have been shown to be effective for removing some regulated metal ions, including chromate.

      Water Environment Research vol. 78 85/1
   chemistry
   1. zerovalent 1906–
      Of an element: having a full outer valence level (and hence a valency of zero); (of a compound or complex) containing an element in this state. Also…
   2. non-valent 1950–
      Originally: (now rare) not readily forming chemical bonds; inert. Later: having a formal oxidation state of zero; = zerovalent, adj.; (also) not…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zɪərəʊˈveɪlənt/
zeer-oh-VAY-luhnt

### U.S. English

/ˌzɪroʊˈveɪlənt/
zeer-oh-VAY-luhnt
/ˌziroʊˈveɪlənt/
zeer-oh-VAY-luhnt

####

##### 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

## Frequency

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

zerovalent 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 zerovalent, adj., 1920–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1920 | 0.0019
1930 | 0.003
1940 | 0.003
1950 | 0.0034
1960 | 0.0043
1970 | 0.0052
1980 | 0.006
1990 | 0.006
2000 | 0.0058
2010 | 0.0064

zerovalent, adj. was revised in June 2018.

zerovalent, adj. was last modified in March 2025.