In the United States: a 5- or 9-digit code representing a specific geographical location which can be added to a postal address to facilitate the sorting and delivery of mail. Cf. postcoden.
Five-digit zip codes were first used in 1963; in 1983 an optional four-digit extension to these, further specifying the location, was introduced.
1962
The Zip code is tailored for use in electronic data processing equipment capable of handling mail addressing and processing at great speed.
Chicago Daily Defender 29 November 2/4
1967
An optical scanner..may eliminate the sorting machines by ‘reading’ the zip code on the letter and dispatching it accordingly.
Boston Sunday Herald 26 March iv. 3/8
1975
In ordering a change of address, subscribers should give four weeks' notice, providing both old and new addresses, with Zip Codes.
New Yorker 5 May 2 (advertisement)
1980
The Postal Board of Governors..withheld final approval of a controversial plan to expand ZIP codes to nine digits.
Christian Science Monitor 4 December (Midwestern edition) 2/2
2000
Punch in your zip code for local weather, or get a heads up on storms brewing elsewhere.
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.
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.
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
zip code typically occurs about 0.4 times per million words in modern written English.
zip code is in frequency band 4, which contains words occurring between 0.1 and 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 zip code, n., 1960–2010
* 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
1960
0.21
1970
0.3
1980
0.35
1990
0.44
2000
0.5
2010
0.54
Frequency of zip code, n., 2017–2024
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Modern frequency series are derived from a corpus of 20 billion words, covering the period from 2017 to the present. The corpus is mainly compiled from online news sources, and covers all major varieties of World English.
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 corpus.
U.S. As a modifier, designating something influenced or determined by a person's locality or postal address, chiefly with reference to the unequal provision of healthcare, education, etc.; esp. in figurative phrase zip code lottery; cf. postcoden. Compounds.
1979
It is our contention that ZIP code discrimination..has the practical effect of discriminating on the basis of race, given the essentially segregated nature of housing in Atlanta.
Credit Card Redlining: Hearings before Subcomm. on Consumer Affairs (U.S. Senate, 96th Congr., 1st Sess.) 21
2000
You lost the ZIP code lottery and now your chances of dying are three times higher because you were born here.
New York Times 17 July b5/4
2017
Students are essentially forced to play a zip code lottery that determines whether they learn in a classroom equipped with an iPad for every student or one where students share decades-old textbooks.