zirconnoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zircon mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zircon. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun zircon?
| 1800 | 0.29 |
| 1810 | 0.25 |
| 1820 | 0.22 |
| 1830 | 0.16 |
| 1840 | 0.11 |
| 1850 | 0.1 |
| 1860 | 0.11 |
| 1870 | 0.13 |
| 1880 | 0.17 |
| 1890 | 0.25 |
| 1900 | 0.29 |
| 1910 | 0.39 |
| 1920 | 0.46 |
| 1930 | 0.56 |
| 1940 | 0.61 |
| 1950 | 0.65 |
| 1960 | 0.64 |
| 1970 | 0.63 |
| 1980 | 0.57 |
| 1990 | 0.52 |
| 2000 | 0.51 |
| 2010 | 0.48 |
How is the noun zircon pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun zircon come from?
Earliest known use
late 1700s
The earliest known use of the noun zircon is in the late 1700s.
OED's earliest evidence for zircon is from 1794, in the writing of Richard Kirwan, chemist and mineralogist.
zircon is a borrowing from German.
Etymons: German Zirkon.
Nearby entries
- zip top, n.1926–
- zip-up, adj. & n.1927–
- zip wire, n.1971–
- zir, pron.1993–
- zir, adj.1993–
- ziraleet, n.1794–
- ziram, n.1950–
- zirbal, adj.?a1425–
- zirbus, n.a1400–
- zircaloy, n.1953–
- zircon, n.1794–
- zirconate, n.1820–
- zircon blue, n. & adj.1928–
- zircon earth, n.1794–
- zirconia, n.1794–
- zirconian, adj.1802–
- zirconic, adj.1804–
- zirconite, n.1806–
- zirconitic, adj.1883–
- zirconium, n.1808–
- zircon-like, adj.1857–
Etymology
Summary
Notes
Meaning & use
- 1794–A mineral which consists of zirconium silicate and occurs as prismatic crystals, most commonly light or reddish brown but sometimes colourless, grey, yellow, green, or blue. Also: a crystal or gem of this mineral.Chemical formula: ZrSiO4, often with small amounts of rare-earth and other metals. Crystal system: tetragonal.Zircon is a widespread minor component of igneous rocks. Colourless and transparent varieties are used as gems: cf. hyacinth n. 1a, jacinth n. 1a, jargon n.2, Matara diamond n.
- 1794
Jargonic Earth or Jargonia. This earth has been discovered by Mr. Klaproth; it has as yet been found only in the stone called Jargon, or Circon, of Ceylon.
R. Kirwan, Elements of Mineralogy (ed. 2) vol. I. 14 - 1815
Zircon is destitute of taste and smell, and is harsh to the touch.
J. Smith, Panorama of Science & Art vol. II. 453 - 1831
With the auriferous sand are found..little white zircons as brilliant as diamonds.
translation of A. von Humboldt in Journal of Royal Institution Great Britain vol. 1 418 - 1929
Zircon occurs always in crystals, square prisms terminated by a four-sided pyramid.
G. P. Merrill, Minerals from Earth & Sky ii. iv. 253 - 1988
Ages even greater than 4.1 aeons..may be found for other zircons in the sample and its parent rock.
P. Cloud, Oasis in Space vi. 136/2 - 2011
For my money, weapon-wielding thugs can't compare to the guy who can switch a diamond for a zircon.
Wired February 89
- jargon1769–A translucent, colourless, or smoky variety of the mineral zircon, found in Sri Lanka.
- zircon1794–A mineral which consists of zirconium silicate and occurs as prismatic crystals, most commonly light or reddish brown but sometimes colourless…
- zirconite1806–The mineral zircon; esp. a greyish or brownish variety of this.
- hyacinth1879–A precious stone. (a) Rendering or representing Greek ὑάκινθος, Latin hyacinthus, ancient name of a precious stone of a blue colour, probably the…
- Matura diamond1886–transferred. Applied (usually with distinguishing epithet) to other crystalline minerals, resembling the diamond in brilliancy; as Bristol diamond…
- jargon1769–A translucent, colourless, or smoky variety of the mineral zircon, found in Sri Lanka.
- zircon1794–A mineral which consists of zirconium silicate and occurs as prismatic crystals, most commonly light or reddish brown but sometimes colourless…
- zirconite1806–The mineral zircon; esp. a greyish or brownish variety of this.
- Matara diamond1807–A colourless or smoky variety of zircon used as a gem; = jargon, n.² Also: a stone of this variety.
- malacon1854–A soft brown altered form of zircon.
- hyacinth1879–A precious stone. (a) Rendering or representing Greek ὑάκινθος, Latin hyacinthus, ancient name of a precious stone of a blue colour, probably the…
- lavenite1886–Silicate of zirconium, found in brown monoclinic crystals.
Pronunciation
British English
U.S. English
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
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
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
- 1700s–1800scircon
- 1800s–zircon, zircone
Frequency
zircon typically occurs about 0.5 times per million words in modern written English.
zircon 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 of zircon, n., 1800–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1800 | 0.29 |
| 1810 | 0.25 |
| 1820 | 0.22 |
| 1830 | 0.16 |
| 1840 | 0.11 |
| 1850 | 0.1 |
| 1860 | 0.11 |
| 1870 | 0.13 |
| 1880 | 0.17 |
| 1890 | 0.25 |
| 1900 | 0.29 |
| 1910 | 0.39 |
| 1920 | 0.46 |
| 1930 | 0.56 |
| 1940 | 0.61 |
| 1950 | 0.65 |
| 1960 | 0.64 |
| 1970 | 0.63 |
| 1980 | 0.57 |
| 1990 | 0.52 |
| 2000 | 0.51 |
| 2010 | 0.48 |
Frequency of zircon, n., 2017–2024
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Modern frequency series are derived from a corpus of 20 billion words, covering the period from 2017 to the present. The corpus is mainly compiled from online news sources, and covers all major varieties of World English.
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 corpus.
| Period | Frequency per million words |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 0.1 |
| 2018 | 0.1 |
| 2019 | 0.12 |
| 2020 | 0.16 |
| 2021 | 0.18 |
| 2022 | 0.2 |
| 2023 | 0.23 |
| 2024 | 0.24 |
Compounds & derived words
- zircon earth, n. 1794–Zirconia (zirconium dioxide).
- zirconic, adj. 1804–Of or relating to zirconium; (occasionally) of or…
- zirconium, n. 1808–A hard lustrous grey metallic chemical element…
- zircon-syenite, n. 1813–A plutonic rock resembling syenite and containing…
- zircon-like, adj. 1857–
- zircon blue, n. & adj. 1928–a. n. A light blue colour like that of some…
- C.1.1804–General use as a modifier, as in zircon crystal, zircon grain, zircon ring, etc.
- 1804
The zircon crystal is formed.
R. Jameson, System of Mineralogy vol. I. 34 - 1884
Light-brownish zircon grains also occur.
M. E. Wadsworth, Lithol. Studies iii. §iv. 122 - 1916
Men and children are paid a certain price per pound for the zircon crystals.
J. H. Pratt, Zircon, Monazite & Other Minerals 15 - 1966
Calli tucked his napkin into the zircon necklace he'd worn.
S. R. Delany, Babel-17 iv. iii. 201 - 2004
He stared at her and the cheap zircon ring he'd bought her last autumn, and felt guilty.
P. Southern, Craze vii. 55
- C.2.
- zircon earth, n. 1794–Zirconia (zirconium dioxide).
- zircon-syenite, n. 1813–A plutonic rock resembling syenite and containing…
- zircon blue, n. & adj. 1928–a. n. A light blue colour like that of some…
-