Zoquenoun (& adjective)
Factsheet
What does the noun Zoque mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun Zoque. 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 Zoque?
| 1890 | 0.016 |
| 1900 | 0.015 |
| 1910 | 0.021 |
| 1920 | 0.022 |
| 1930 | 0.026 |
| 1940 | 0.028 |
| 1950 | 0.029 |
| 1960 | 0.031 |
| 1970 | 0.034 |
| 1980 | 0.031 |
| 1990 | 0.032 |
| 2000 | 0.03 |
| 2010 | 0.031 |
How is the noun Zoque pronounced?
British English
Where does the noun Zoque come from?
Earliest known use
1890s
The earliest known use of the noun Zoque is in the 1890s.
OED's earliest evidence for Zoque is from 1891, in the writing of Daniel Brinton.
Zoque is a borrowing from Spanish.
Nearby entries
- zooxanthella, n.1882–
- zooxanthellate, adj. & n.1981–
- zooxanthin, n.1868–
- zoozygosphere, n.1880–
- zope, n.1880–
- zophoric, adj.1728–
- zophorus | zoophorus, n.1563–
- zopilote, n.1787–
- zopissa, n.1601–
- zoppa, adj.1740–
- Zoque, n.1891–
- Zoque–Mixe, adj. & n.1893–
- Zorb, n.1996–
- zorbing, n.1996–
- zorgite, n.1852–
- zori, n.?1823–
- zoril, n.1774–
- Zoroastrian, adj. & n.1597–
- Zoroastrianism, n.1832–
- Zoroastrianize, v.1891–
- Zoroastric, adj.a1739–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1891–Any of a group of Central American Indigenous languages of the Mixe-Zoquean family; this group of languages collectively. Also attributive or as adj.
- 1891
Zoque linguistic stock.
D. G. Brinton, American Race iii. vi. 144 (heading) - 1911
Zoque.
C. Thomas & J. R. Swanton, Indian Languages of Mexico & Central America (U.S. Bureau of Amer. Ethnol. Bull. No. 44) 60 (heading) - 1940
The territory in which the Zoque language was spoken has scarcely been changed on any map since Thomas.
F. Johnson in Maya & their Neighbors vi. 109 - 1953
This is most strikingly illustrated in Zoque, where the impermissibility of many sequences of consonants leads to a non-phonemic transposition of phoneme-order in the event of suffixation.
C. E. Bazell, Linguistic Form 22 - 1964
As in Zoque, spoken in Mexico, the Biblical expression ‘Perfect love casts out fear’ becomes ‘we do not fear when we truly love’.
E. A. Nida, Toward Science of Translating vi. 134 - 1972
Otomi nasal vowels, Mixteco,..and Zoque.
Language vol. 48 847
the mind language languages of the world Indigenous languages of the Americas [adjectives] Penutian of specific Penutian languages- Creek1725–Of or pertaining to the people or their language (see sense A.1).
- Choctaw1796–The language of this people. Also attributive.
- Tsimshian1836–Of or pertaining to this people or their language.
- Muskogee1868–Of or relating to the Muskogees (sense A.1a) or their language (sense A.2).
- Tzeltal1868–(A member of) an Indigenous people inhabiting parts of southern Mexico; the Mayan language of this people. Also attributive or as adj.
- Yuki1875–General attributive or as adj.
- Klamath1881–Of or pertaining to this people.
- Takelma1882–Of or relating to the Takelma or their language; designating the Takelma or their language.
- Zoque1891–Any of a group of Central American Indigenous languages of the Mixe-Zoquean family; this group of languages collectively. Also attributive or as adj.
- Zoque–Mixe1893–= Mixe–Zoque, adj.
- Modoc1907–Of, relating to, or designating the Modoc.
- Yawelmani1907–General attributive or as adj.
- Sahaptin1921–Of or pertaining to any of these peoples or their language.
- Totonacan1933–Of or pertaining to the family of languages that comprises Totonac and Tepehua.
- Tzotzil1939–(A member of) an Indigenous people inhabiting parts of southern Mexico; the Mayan language of this people. Also attributive or as adj.
- Molale1966–Of or relating to the Molale or their language.
- Quichean1968–Of or relating to Quiché or the Mayan language subgroup to which it belongs.
- Mixean1977–Of or relating to the Mixe of southern Mexico; spec. belonging to or designating a group of related languages which together form a branch of the…
the mind language languages of the world Indigenous languages of the Americas [nouns] of North America Penutian Mexican Penutian- Mixe1877–Any of a group of related languages spoken by this people, which together form the Mixean branch of the Mixe–Zoque family; this group of languages.
- Zoque1891–Any of a group of Central American Indigenous languages of the Mixe-Zoquean family; this group of languages collectively. Also attributive or as adj.
- Totonac1908–An Indigenous people of east central Mexico; a member of this people. Also, their language. Also attributive.
- Mixean1977–The Mixean group of languages; a language belonging to the Mixean group.
- Mixe–Zoque1977–The Mixe–Zoque family of languages (see sense B).
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.
Frequency
Zoque typically occurs about 0.03 times per million words in modern written English.
Zoque 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 Zoque, 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 | 0.016 |
| 1900 | 0.015 |
| 1910 | 0.021 |
| 1920 | 0.022 |
| 1930 | 0.026 |
| 1940 | 0.028 |
| 1950 | 0.029 |
| 1960 | 0.031 |
| 1970 | 0.034 |
| 1980 | 0.031 |
| 1990 | 0.032 |
| 2000 | 0.03 |
| 2010 | 0.031 |
Compounds & derived words
- Zoque–Mixe, adj. & n. 1893–= Mixe–Zoque, adj.
- Mixe–Zoquean, adj. & n. 1940–The Mixe–Zoque language family. Cf. Mixe–Zoque, n. A.2.
- Mixe–Zoque, n. & adj. 1957–With plural agreement: the Mixe and Zoque peoples…