zhuzh, n.

zhuzh
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zhuzh_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 2020

# zhuzhnoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zhuzh mean?

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

### How common is the noun zhuzh?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

2017 | 0
2018 | 0.0005
2019 | 0.0013
2020 | 0.0026
2021 | 0.0054
2022 | 0.0068
2023 | 0.008
2024 | 0.0092

### How is the noun zhuzh pronounced?

#### British English

/ʒʊʒ/
zhuuzh
/ʒʊʃ/
zhuush

#### U.S. English

/ʒʊʒ/
zhuuzh
/ʒʊʃ/
zhuush

### Where does the noun zhuzh come from?

Earliest known use

1960s

The earliest known use of the noun zhuzh is in the 1960s.

OED's earliest evidence for zhuzh is from 1968, in a text by B. Took et al.

zhuzh is perhaps an imitative or expressive formation.

### Nearby entries

1. Zeuxis, n. 1577–
2. Zeuxis-like, adj. 1665–
3. zeuxite, n. 1836–
4. zeze, n. 1860–
5. Zhdanovism, n. 1958–
6. Zhdanovist, adj. 1966–
7. Zhdanovite, adj. 1957–
8. zho, n. 1841–
9. zhomo, n. 1841–
10. zhuyin zimu, n. 1938–
11. zhuzh, n.1968–
12. zhuzh, v. 1970–
13. zhuzhy, adj. 1968–
14. ziamet, n. 1807–
15. ziarat, n. 1776–
16. zibeline, n. 1585–
17. zibet, n. 1594–
18. zibet-muff, n. 1685
19. zibib, n. 1836–
20. ziczac, n. 1844–
21. zidovudine, n. 1987–

## Etymology

### Summary

Of uncertain origin. Perhaps an imitative or expressive formation.
Of uncertain origin: perhaps ultimately an imitative or expressive formation (compare in similar senses e.g. zing n. B.2, pizzazz n., zap n. 1).

Compare from a similar date the related zhuzh v., zhuzhy adj., although the…
Of uncertain origin: perhaps ultimately an imitative or expressive formation (compare in similar senses e.g. zing n. B.2, pizzazz n., zap n. 1).

Compare from a similar date the related zhuzh v., zhuzhy adj., although the relative priority of the three words is unclear. For further discussion of the etymology, see zhuzh v.

## Meaning & use

slang.

1. 1968–
   Style, glamour; a stylish or glamorous appearance or effect. Also: the action or an act of making something more stylish, attractive, or exciting. Cf. zhuzh v.
   Originally used among gay men, apparently in Polari slang.
   In earliest use with the sense ‘(style of) clothing’.
   1. 1968

      > Julian. Let's have a vada at his zhush. Mr. Horne. Clothing. That's translator's note.

      B. Took et al. in B. Took & M. Coward, Best of ‘Round the Horne’ (2000) 4th Ser. Episode 4. 192/1
   2. 1973

      > A zhush of georgette negligee and a pair of gold lame thigh boots are about all many of the lovelies deem necessary as equipment.

      Quorum No. 8 13/2
   3. 1987

      > An elegantly dressed young man..offers another towel followed by a comb and hair dryer to put the zhoosh back into your quiff.

      OutRage (Australia) October 25/3
   4. 1995

      > My image needs a bit of a zhoozh, as stylists say.

      Independent (Nexis) 11 November 61
   5. 2019

      > It's a good time to think of giving your dressing table a bit of a ‘zhuzh’.

      Daily Rec. & Sunday Mail (Nexis) 16 November 31
   colloquial and slang
   1. glamorousness 1911–
      The state or quality of being glamorous.
   2. glamour 1915–
      Originally U.S. Attractiveness or desirability of appearance, esp. when extravagant, showy, or opulent.
   3. glam 1961–
      Glamour; esp. glamorous, attractive, or desirable appearance.
   4. zhuzh 1968–
      Style, glamour; a stylish or glamorous appearance or effect. Also: the action or an act of making something more stylish, attractive, or…
   5. showbiz 1970–
      The idealized qualities characteristic of or associated with show business; glamour, glitz.
   6. glitziness 1982–
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. glamorization 1926–
      The action or process of making a person or thing seem glamorous or desirable, esp. of making criminal activity or something destructive seem…
   2. zhuzh 1968–
      Style, glamour; a stylish or glamorous appearance or effect. Also: the action or an act of making something more stylish, attractive, or…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ʒʊʒ/
zhuuzh
/ʒʊʃ/
zhuush

### U.S. English

/ʒʊʒ/
zhuuzh
/ʒʊʃ/
zhuush

####

##### 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–
   zhoosh, zhoozh, zhush
2. 2000s–
   zhuzh

## Frequency

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

zhuzh 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 zhuzh, 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.

Period | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
2017 | 0
2018 | 0.0005
2019 | 0.0013
2020 | 0.0026
2021 | 0.0054
2022 | 0.0068
2023 | 0.008
2024 | 0.0092

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zhuzhy, adj. 1968–
   Stylish, attractive, exciting. Also sometimes…

zhuzh, n. was first published in December 2020.

zhuzh, n. was last modified in July 2023.