zori, n.

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

# zorinoun

## Earlier version

- zori, n. pl. in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zori mean?

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

About 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1820 | 0.0013
1830 | 0.0011
1840 | 0.001
1850 | 0.0011
1860 | 0.0023
1870 | 0.0031
1880 | 0.0039
1890 | 0.0047
1900 | 0.0056
1910 | 0.0062
1920 | 0.0079
1930 | 0.0087
1940 | 0.009
1950 | 0.011
1960 | 0.011
1970 | 0.013
1980 | 0.014
1990 | 0.014
2000 | 0.014
2010 | 0.014

### How is the noun zori pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɔːri/
ZOR-ee
/ˈzɒri/
ZORR-ee

#### U.S. English

/ˈzɔri/
ZOR-ee

### Where does the noun zori come from?

Earliest known use

1820s

The earliest known use of the noun zori is in the 1820s.

OED's earliest evidence for zori is from around 1823, in the writing of F. Schoberl.

zori is a borrowing from Japanese.

### Nearby entries

1. zophoric, adj. 1728–
2. zophorus | zoophorus, n. 1563–
3. zopilote, n. 1787–
4. zopissa, n. 1601–
5. zoppa, adj. 1740–
6. Zoque, n. 1891–
7. Zoque–Mixe, adj. & n. 1893–
8. Zorb, n. 1996–
9. zorbing, n. 1996–
10. zorgite, n. 1852–
11. zori, n.?1823–
12. zoril, n. 1774–
13. Zoroastrian, adj. & n. 1597–
14. Zoroastrianism, n. 1832–
15. Zoroastrianize, v. 1891–
16. Zoroastric, adj. a1739–
17. Zoroastrism, n. 1819–
18. zorrino, n. 1885–
19. zorro, n. 1838–
20. zos-grass, n. 1937–
21. zoster, n. 1601–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Japanese.
Japanese, < sō grass, (rice) straw + ri footwear, sole.

## Meaning & use

1. ?1823–
   With plural agreement. Japanese thonged sandals with straw (or leather, wood, etc.) soles.
   1. ?1823

      > The shoes of the Japanese consist of straw soles or slips of wood. Those in common use are called sori.

      F. Schoberl, Japan (World in Miniature) v. 131
   2. 1884

      > He leaves his geta or zôri at the door, so as not to soil the beautiful mats.

      translation of J. J. Rein, Japan: Trav. & Research 416
   3. 1939

      > Even her zori were blue, with sapphire soles and bright blue straps which came between the toes.

      A. Keith, Land below Wind xviii. 298
   4. 1962

      > Japanese zori or the American adaptation, thong sandals.

      American Speech vol. 37 288
   5. 1970

      > On summer days, zori of a specially fine quality, made of bamboo sheaths, may be used for strolling in the garden.

      J. Kirkup, Japan behind Fan 180
   6. 1984

      > Zori (flip-flops) are compulsory wear at BJA events and should be worn off the mat in Clubs, Schools, etc.

      Coaching Award Scheme (British Judo Association) 9/1
   shoes
   1. zori?1823–
      With plural agreement. Japanese thonged sandals with straw (or leather, wood, etc.) soles.
   2. beach sandals 1934–
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɔːri/
ZOR-ee
/ˈzɒri/
ZORR-ee

### U.S. English

/ˈzɔri/
ZOR-ee

####

##### 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.

####

##### 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 /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.

##### 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

Also 1800s sori.

## Frequency

zori typically occurs about 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zori 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 zori, n., 1820–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1820 | 0.0013
1830 | 0.0011
1840 | 0.001
1850 | 0.0011
1860 | 0.0023
1870 | 0.0031
1880 | 0.0039
1890 | 0.0047
1900 | 0.0056
1910 | 0.0062
1920 | 0.0079
1930 | 0.0087
1940 | 0.009
1950 | 0.011
1960 | 0.011
1970 | 0.013
1980 | 0.014
1990 | 0.014
2000 | 0.014
2010 | 0.014

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

zori, n. was last modified in March 2025.