zymogen, n.

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

# zymogennoun

## Earlier version

- zymogen in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zymogen mean?

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

About 0.2occurrences per million words in modern written English

1870 | 0.08
1880 | 0.13
1890 | 0.16
1900 | 0.18
1910 | 0.2
1920 | 0.18
1930 | 0.15
1940 | 0.12
1950 | 0.15
1960 | 0.18
1970 | 0.19
1980 | 0.19
1990 | 0.17
2000 | 0.15
2010 | 0.11

### How is the noun zymogen pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzʌɪməʊdʒɛn/

### Where does the noun zymogen come from?

Earliest known use

1870s

The earliest known use of the noun zymogen is in the 1870s.

OED's earliest evidence for zymogen is from 1877, in the writing of Michael Foster, physiologist and politician.

zymogen is a borrowing from German.

Etymons: German zymogen.

### Nearby entries

1. zymad, n. 1885–
2. zymase, n. 1875–
3. zymate, n. 1817–19
4. zyme, n. 1882–
5. zymic, adj. 1817–26
6. zymin, n. 1842–
7. zyminized, adj. 1888–
8. zymo-, comb. form
9. zymocyte, n. a1909–
10. zymodeme, n. 1978–
11. zymogen, n.1877–
12. zymogenetic, adj. 1896–
13. zymogenic, adj. 1884–
14. zymogluconate, n. 1887–
15. zymogluconic, adj. 1886–
16. zymogram, n. 1957–
17. zymohydrolysis, n. 1903–
18. zymoid, adj. & n. 1891–
19. zymological, adj. 1828–
20. zymologist, n. 1828–
21. zymology, n. 1753–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from German.
Etymon: German zymogen.
< German zymogen (Heidenhain, 1875): see zymo- comb. form and ‑gen comb. form.

## Meaning & use

Biochemistry.

1. 1877–
   A substance formed in an organism, from which a ferment is produced. Also attributive.
   1. 1877

      > A pancreas taken fresh from the body..contains but little ready made ferment, though there is present in it a body which, by some kind of decomposition, gives birth to the ferment... To this body, the mother of the ferment, Heidenhain has given the name of Zymogen.

      M. Foster, Text Book of Physiology ii. i. 188
   2. 1896

      > Zymogen granules.

      E. B. Wilson, Cell 288
   3. 1897

      > A zymogen is the antecedent of the ferment of the secretion—pepsinogen, trypsinogen, for example.

      T. C. Allbutt et al., System of Medicine vol. III. 306
   organic chemistry

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzʌɪməʊdʒɛn/

####

##### 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.

## Frequency

zymogen typically occurs about 0.2 times per million words in modern written English.

zymogen 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 zymogen, n., 1870–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1870 | 0.08
1880 | 0.13
1890 | 0.16
1900 | 0.18
1910 | 0.2
1920 | 0.18
1930 | 0.15
1940 | 0.12
1950 | 0.15
1960 | 0.18
1970 | 0.19
1980 | 0.19
1990 | 0.17
2000 | 0.15
2010 | 0.11

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zymogenous, adj. 1877–
   Producing a ferment, or causing fermentation.

1. zymogenic, adj. 1884–

1. prozymogen, n. 1890–
   A precursor of a zymogen (an inactive form of a…

1. zymogenetic, adj. 1896–

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

zymogen, n. was last modified in December 2024.