zoologize, v.

zoologize
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoologize_v%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2017

# zoologizeverb

## Earlier version

- zoologize, v. in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the verb zoologize mean?

There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the verb zoologize. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the verb zoologize?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1840 | 0.001
1850 | 0.0008
1860 | 0.0007
1870 | 0.0007
1880 | 0.0006
1890 | 0.0005
1900 | 0.0005
1910 | 0.0004
1920 | 0.0004
1930 | 0.0005
1940 | 0.0004
1950 | 0.0004
1960 | 0.0004
1970 | 0.0002
1980 | 0.0002
1990 | 0.0002
2000 | 0.0001
2010 | 0.0001

### How is the verb zoologize pronounced?

#### British English

/zuːˈɒlədʒʌɪz/
zoo-OL-uh-jighz
/zəʊˈɒlədʒʌɪz/
zoh-OL-uh-jighz

#### U.S. English

/zuˈɑləˌdʒaɪz/
zoo-AH-luh-jighz
/zoʊˈɑləˌdʒaɪz/
zoh-AH-luh-jighz

### Where does the verb zoologize come from?

Earliest known use

1830s

The earliest known use of the verb zoologize is in the 1830s.

OED's earliest evidence for zoologize is from 1830, in the Spectator.

zoologize is formed within English, by derivation.

Etymons: zoology n., ‑ize suffix.

### Nearby entries

1. zoolatry, n. 1784–
2. zoolite, n. 1768–
3. zoologer, n. 1663–
4. zoologic, adj. 1766–
5. zoological, adj. & n. 1686–
6. zoological garden, n. 1827–
7. zoologically, adv. 1799–
8. zoologico-, comb. form
9. zoologico-archaeologist, n. 1864
10. zoologist, n. 1663–
11. zoologize, v.1830–
12. zoologizing, n. 1815–
13. zoology, n. 1663–
14. zoom, n. 1917–
15. zoom, v.¹ 1886–
16. Zoom, v.² 2014–
17. zoom, int. 1856–
18. zoomable, adj. 1972–
19. zoomagnetism, n. 1824–
20. zooman, n. 1871–
21. zoomancy, n. 1888–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by derivation.
Etymons: zoology n., ‑ize suffix.
< zoology n. + ‑ize suffix.

Compare earlier zoologizing n.

With sense 2 compare also earlier geologize v., botanize v., etc.

## Meaning & use

1. 1.
   1830–
   transitive. To give a zoological character to; to present or treat as animal-like; to consider in zoological terms; (also) to treat (a subject, question, etc.) in a zoological manner.
   1. 1830

      > He [sc. Landseer] zoologizes mankind.

      Spectator 7 August 592/1
   2. 1893

      > M. Renan attempted a natural history of religions. De Lisle zoologised poetry.

      Review of Reviews December 620/1
   3. 1912

      > Sex psychology may be over-emphasized..or even zoölogized.

      Med. Council December 437/2
   4. 1999

      > The..danger of zoologizing child psychology.

      M. J. Hall, translation of L. S. Vygotsky in R. W. Rieber & D. K. Robbins, Collected Works L. S. Vygotsky vol. VI. i. 5
   5. 2001

      > If other novelists are sometimes guilty of anthropomorphizing animals, Dreiser..indulges in zoologizing human beings.

      Hudson Review vol. 54 26
   animals
   1. zoologize 1830–
      transitive. To give a zoological character to; to present or treat as animal-like; to consider in zoological terms; (also) to treat (a subject…
   2. zoologize 1852–
      intransitive. To engage in the study of zoology; esp. to look for animals in their natural habitats for the purpose of recording or studying them…
   View in Historical Thesaurus
2. 2.
   1852–
   intransitive. To engage in the study of zoology; esp. to look for animals in their natural habitats for the purpose of recording or studying them zoologically. Also occasionally transitive: to record or study (an animal or animals) zoologically; to record or study the fauna of (an area). Cf. botanize v.
   1. 1852

      > ‘Zoologizing’ in Black Park, Bucks., (a place dear to London Entomologists,) in company with my late lamented friend.

      Naturalist vol. 2 217
   2. 1861

      > He had botanized and zoologized..from the Shetlands to the Channel Isles.

      A. Geikie, Memoir of Edward Forbes ix. 267
   3. 1890

      > I have just heard that Charles Lister..has died of fever in Brazil, where he was zoologising.

      G. J. Romanes in Life & Letters (1896) 256
   4. 1901

      > To Zanzibar to zoologize zebras.

      Brainerd (Minnesota) Daily Disp. 14 December 7/6
   5. 1911

      > While he is farming he zoologizes, and while he is zoologizing he is farming.

      Alton (Illinois) Evening Telegraph 30 May 8/3
   6. 1961

      > Country gentlemen botanized and zoologized in the same spirit that they hunted and rode.

      Chapters Western Civilization (ed. 3) vol. II. 257
   7. 2004

      > We do follow Darwin as he travels across the world..zoologizing.

      Journal Hist. Biology vol. 37 209
   8. 2007

      > You resist the ever-present temptation to over-engineer, over-botanize, or over-zoologize the wetlands.

      W. J. Mitsch & J. G. Gosselink, Wetlands (ed. 4) xii. 378
   animals
   1. zoologize 1852–
      intransitive. To engage in the study of zoology; esp. to look for animals in their natural habitats for the purpose of recording or studying them…
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. zoologize 1830–
      transitive. To give a zoological character to; to present or treat as animal-like; to consider in zoological terms; (also) to treat (a subject…
   2. zoologize 1852–
      intransitive. To engage in the study of zoology; esp. to look for animals in their natural habitats for the purpose of recording or studying them…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zuːˈɒlədʒʌɪz/
zoo-OL-uh-jighz
/zəʊˈɒlədʒʌɪz/
zoh-OL-uh-jighz

### U.S. English

/zuˈɑləˌdʒaɪz/
zoo-AH-luh-jighz
/zoʊˈɑləˌdʒaɪz/
zoh-AH-luh-jighz

####

##### 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. 1800s–1900s
   zoölogize
2. 1800s–
   zoologise, zoologize

## Frequency

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

zoologize is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 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 zoologize, v., 1840–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1840 | 0.001
1850 | 0.0008
1860 | 0.0007
1870 | 0.0007
1880 | 0.0006
1890 | 0.0005
1900 | 0.0005
1910 | 0.0004
1920 | 0.0004
1930 | 0.0005
1940 | 0.0004
1950 | 0.0004
1960 | 0.0004
1970 | 0.0002
1980 | 0.0002
1990 | 0.0002
2000 | 0.0001
2010 | 0.0001

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zoologized, adj. 1865–

zoologize, v. was revised in June 2017.

zoologize, v. was last modified in July 2023.