zophorus | zoophorus, n.

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

# zophorus | zoophorusnoun

## Earlier version

- zophorus in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zophorus mean?

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

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1750 | 0.0027
1760 | 0.0022
1770 | 0.0024
1780 | 0.0028
1790 | 0.0023
1800 | 0.0042
1810 | 0.0048
1820 | 0.0058
1830 | 0.0059
1840 | 0.0056
1850 | 0.005
1860 | 0.004
1870 | 0.0023
1880 | 0.0017
1890 | 0.0006
1900 | 0.0005
1910 | 0.0004
1920 | 0.0002
1930 | 0.0003
1940 | 0.0002
1950 | 0.0002
1960 | 0.0002
1970 | 0.0002
1980 | 0.0002
1990 | 0.0002
2000 | 0.0002
2010 | 0.0001

### How is the noun zophorus pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzəʊfərəs/
/zəʊˈɒfərəs/

### Where does the noun zophorus come from?

Earliest known use

mid 1500s

The earliest known use of the noun zophorus is in the mid 1500s.

OED's earliest evidence for zophorus is from 1563, in the writing of John Shute, writer on architecture.

zophorus is a borrowing from Latin.

Etymons: Latin zōphorus.

### Nearby entries

1. zooty, adj. 1942–
2. zootype, n. 1883–
3. zootypic, adj. 1853–
4. zoowoman, n. 1930–
5. zooxanthella, n. 1882–
6. zooxanthellate, adj. & n. 1981–
7. zooxanthin, n. 1868–
8. zoozygosphere, n. 1880–
9. zope, n. 1880–
10. zophoric, adj. 1728–
11. zophorus | zoophorus, n.1563–
12. zopilote, n. 1787–
13. zopissa, n. 1601–
14. zoppa, adj. 1740–
15. Zoque, n. 1891–
16. Zoque–Mixe, adj. & n. 1893–
17. Zorb, n. 1996–
18. zorbing, n. 1996–
19. zorgite, n. 1852–
20. zori, n.?1823–
21. zoril, n. 1774–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Latin.
Etymon: Latin zōphorus.
< Latin zōphorus, zōophorus (Vitruvius), < Greek ζῳϕόρος, ζῳοϕόρος adjective, bearing figures of animals, < ζῷον animal + ‑ϕόρος -bearing. Compare French zoophore (Rabelais).

## Meaning & use

Classical Architecture.

1. 1563–
   A continuous frieze bearing human and animal figures carved in relief.
   1. 1563

      > Vpon their heddes, he laide Epistilia, and Coronas, setting betwixt them Zophorus.

      J. Shute, First Groundes of Architecture sig. Biii
   2. 1694

      > The Architraves, Zoophores and Cornishes.

      P. A. Motteux, translation of F. Rabelais, 5th Book of Works xliii. 199
   3. 1706

      > Zophorus or Zoophorus.

      Phillips's New World of Words (new edition)
   4. 1823
      P. Nicholson, New Practical Builder 586.
   5. 1905

      > The sculptures on the zophorus of the west front..should be taken down and stored in a museum.

      Times 25 April 5/2
   classical history architecture
   1. frieze 1563–
      That member in the entablature of an order which comes between the architrave and cornice. Also in extended sense (see quot. 1850).
   2. zophorus 1563–
      A continuous frieze bearing human and animal figures carved in relief.
   3. Panathenaic frieze 1877–
      A continuous frieze extending the entire length of the outer wall of the cella of the Parthenon, depicting the great procession of the Panathenaea.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzəʊfərəs/

### British English

/zəʊˈɒfərəs/

####

##### 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 -i. Also 1700s anglicized zoophore.

## Frequency

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

zophorus 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 zophorus | zoophorus, n., 1750–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1750 | 0.0027
1760 | 0.0022
1770 | 0.0024
1780 | 0.0028
1790 | 0.0023
1800 | 0.0042
1810 | 0.0048
1820 | 0.0058
1830 | 0.0059
1840 | 0.0056
1850 | 0.005
1860 | 0.004
1870 | 0.0023
1880 | 0.0017
1890 | 0.0006
1900 | 0.0005
1910 | 0.0004
1920 | 0.0002
1930 | 0.0003
1940 | 0.0002
1950 | 0.0002
1960 | 0.0002
1970 | 0.0002
1980 | 0.0002
1990 | 0.0002
2000 | 0.0002
2010 | 0.0001

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zophoric, adj. 1728–
   Bearing the figure of an animal.

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

zophorus, n. was last modified in December 2024.