zocalo, n.

zocalo
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zocalo_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1986; not fully revised

# zocalonoun

## Earlier version

- zocalo in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zocalo mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zocalo. 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 zocalo?

About 0.05occurrences per million words in modern written English

1880 | 0.0056
1890 | 0.0047
1900 | 0.0044
1910 | 0.0047
1920 | 0.0045
1930 | 0.0061
1940 | 0.008
1950 | 0.015
1960 | 0.029
1970 | 0.034
1980 | 0.039
1990 | 0.044
2000 | 0.05
2010 | 0.059

### How is the noun zocalo pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɒkələʊ/
ZOCK-uh-loh

### Where does the noun zocalo come from?

Earliest known use

1880s

The earliest known use of the noun zocalo is in the 1880s.

OED's earliest evidence for zocalo is from 1884, in the writing of J. W. Steele.

zocalo is a borrowing from Spanish.

### Nearby entries

1. zoanthid, n. 1870–
2. zoanthidan, adj. 1888–
3. zoanthodeme, n. 1877–
4. zoanthoid, adj. 1854–
5. zoanthropic, adj. 1891–
6. zoanthropy, n. 1856–
7. zoanthus, n. 1841–
8. zoarial, adj. 1896–
9. zoarium, n. 1880–
10. zob, n. 1911–
11. zocalo, n.1884–
12. zocco, n. 1664–1723
13. zocle, n. 1704–
14. zoco, n. 1892–
15. zodiac, n. 1390–
16. zodiacal, adj. 1576–
17. zodiac line, n. 1590
18. zodiac ring, n. 1895–
19. zodiographer, n. 1650
20. zoea, n. 1828–
21. zoeal, adj.?1870–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Spanish.
< Spanish.

## Meaning & use

1. 1884–
   In Mexico, a public square, a plaza.
   1. 1884

      > The square in front of the Cathedral, called the Zócalo, is the place of universal resort.

      J. W. Steele, To Mexico by Palace Car v. 75
   2. 1884

      > Beneath us is the great square, with the smaller one, the zocalo, or pleasure garden, in its center.

      F. A. Ober, Travels in Mexico xii. 232
   3. 1912

      > The Zocalo, as it is called, is the real center of Mexico City.

      E. H. Blickfeld, Mexican Journey x. 119
   4. 1927

      > And a plaza is a zocalo, a hub.

      D. H. Lawrence, Mornings in Mexico 39
   5. 1957

      > I read of revolutions, counterrevolutions..in the zócalo.

      M. Lowry, Letter 17 March (1967) 398
   6. 1975

      > Oaxaca..its zocalo, with its trees and its arcades.

      Times 24 May 10/3
   1. place Old English
      An open space in a town, a public square, a marketplace. Obsolete.
   2. street Old English
      In specific uses, chiefly with the. In the ancient world: the public square or forum of a town or city. Obsolete.
   3. forum a1464–
      Roman History. The public place or marketplace of a city. In ancient Rome the place of assembly for judicial and other public business.
   4. pomery 1533–1656
      = pomerium, n.
   5. piazza 1583–
      A public square or marketplace, esp. one in an Italian town; any similar open public space surrounded by buildings. Also figurative and in…
   6. agora 1591–
      A public open space where people can assemble, esp. a marketplace, originally in the ancient Greek world; the structures enclosing such a space.
   7. pomerium 1598–
      The strip of ground marking the formal, religiously constituted boundary of a Roman city. Also in extended use.
   8. plaza a1661–
      In Spain and Spanish-speaking countries: a public square, a marketplace.
   9. square a1684–
      An open space or area (approximately quadrilateral and rectangular) in a town or city, enclosed by buildings or dwelling-houses, esp. of a superior…
   10. piazzetta 1730–
       A small piazza in an Italian town.
   11. town square 1769–
       (With the) the principal square (square, n. II.12a) in a town, often centrally located and used for markets, festivals, etc.
   12. place 1793–
       In France (and occasionally other countries): a square in a town. Frequently in proper names.
   13. Pnyx 1820–
       In ancient Athens: the public place of assembly, a semicircular level cut out of the side of a hill west of the Acropolis.
   14. zocalo 1884–
       In Mexico, a public square, a plaza.
   15. plaza 1948–
       Originally and chiefly North American. A large paved area surrounded by or adjacent to shops and businesses, usually designed as a feature of a…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɒkələʊ/
ZOCK-uh-loh

####

##### 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.

####

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

Also zócalo and with capital initial.

## Frequency

zocalo typically occurs about 0.05 times per million words in modern written English.

zocalo 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 data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zocalo, n., 1880–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1880 | 0.0056
1890 | 0.0047
1900 | 0.0044
1910 | 0.0047
1920 | 0.0045
1930 | 0.0061
1940 | 0.008
1950 | 0.015
1960 | 0.029
1970 | 0.034
1980 | 0.039
1990 | 0.044
2000 | 0.05
2010 | 0.059

zocalo, n. was first published in 1986; not fully revised.

zocalo, n. was last modified in December 2024.