zygon, n.

zygon
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zygon_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1921; not fully revised

# zygonnoun

## Earlier version

- zygon in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zygon mean?

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

zygon has developed meanings and uses in subjects including

anatomy (1880s) neurology (1880s) ancient Greek history (1880s) nautical (1880s)

#### 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 zygon?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1880 | 0.0017
1890 | 0.0018
1900 | 0.002
1910 | 0.002
1920 | 0.0023
1930 | 0.0025
1940 | 0.0026
1950 | 0.0023
1960 | 0.0023
1970 | 0.0022
1980 | 0.0021
1990 | 0.0019
2000 | 0.0019
2010 | 0.0019

### How is the noun zygon pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzʌɪɡɒn/

### Where does the noun zygon come from?

Earliest known use

1880s

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

OED's earliest evidence for zygon is from 1886, in a paper by Burt Green Wilder.

zygon is a borrowing from Latin.

### Nearby entries

1. zygoma, n. 1684–
2. zygomatic, adj. & n. 1712–
3. zygomatico-, comb. form
4. zygomato-, comb. form
5. zygomere, n. 1966–
6. zygomorphic, adj. 1875–
7. zygomorphism, n. 1875–
8. zygomorphous, adj. 1879–
9. Zygomycetes, n. 1887–
10. zygomycetous, adj. 1928–
11. zygon, n.1886–
12. zygonema, n. 1911–
13. zygoneurous, adj. 1901–
14. zygophiuran, adj. & n. 1892–
15. zygophore, n. 1904–
16. zygophyllaceous, adj. 1887–
17. zygophyte, n. 1885–
18. zygopleura, n. 1883–
19. zygopterid, n. & adj. 1900–
20. zygosis, n. 1880–
21. zygosity, n. 1952–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Latin.
modern Latin, < Greek ζυγόν yoke.

## Meaning & use

1. 1.
   1886–
   Anatomy. The bar or stem connecting the two branches of an H-shaped fissure (zygal fissure) of the brain.
   1. 1886

      > If..the zygon is the principal, central, and primary constituent of a fissural integer, the paroccipital.

      B. G. Wilder in Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease vol. 13 310
   anatomy neurology
   1. zygon 1886–
      Anatomy. The bar or stem connecting the two branches of an H-shaped fissure (zygal fissure) of the brain.
   2. stipe a1891–
      Anatomy. ‘A stem: applied to two branches, anterior and posterior, of the zygal or paroccipital fissure of the brain’.
   3. Sylvian fossa 1890–
      Described by or named after the anatomist Sylvius: applied to certain structures in the brain. A depression of the cerebral hemispheres in the…
   View in Historical Thesaurus
2. 2.
   1888–
   Ancient Greek History. A cross-bench or thwart for rowers.
   1. 1888

      > When..vessels were expressly built as triremes, we may imagine..the benches or zyga would be a little raised.

      W. B. Woodgate, Boating (Badminton Libr. of Sports & Pastimes) i. 17
   ancient Greek history nautical
   1. thoft Old English–
      A rower's bench; = thwart, n.²
   2. thawt 1589–
      A rower's bench; = thwart, n.²
   3. bank 1595–
      Chiefly historical. The bench occupied by the rowers of each oar in a galley.
   4. thwart 1736–
      A seat across a boat, on which the rower sits; a rower's bench.
   5. oar-bench 1856–
   6. zygon 1888–
      Ancient Greek History. A cross-bench or thwart for rowers.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzʌɪɡɒn/

####

##### 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.

## Forms

### Variant forms

Plural zyga /ˈzaɪɡə/ .

## Frequency

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

zygon 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 zygon, 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 | 0.0017
1890 | 0.0018
1900 | 0.002
1910 | 0.002
1920 | 0.0023
1930 | 0.0025
1940 | 0.0026
1950 | 0.0023
1960 | 0.0023
1970 | 0.0022
1980 | 0.0021
1990 | 0.0019
2000 | 0.0019
2010 | 0.0019

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zygal, adj. 1886–
   Pertaining to or having a zygon.

zygon, n. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.

zygon, n. was last modified in December 2024.