Znnoun
Factsheet
What does the noun Zn mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun Zn. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun Zn?
| 1810 | 0.015 |
| 1820 | 0.015 |
| 1830 | 0.024 |
| 1840 | 0.035 |
| 1850 | 0.062 |
| 1860 | 0.11 |
| 1870 | 0.19 |
| 1880 | 0.3 |
| 1890 | 0.42 |
| 1900 | 0.53 |
| 1910 | 0.64 |
| 1920 | 0.75 |
| 1930 | 0.94 |
| 1940 | 1.2 |
| 1950 | 1.5 |
| 1960 | 1.9 |
| 1970 | 2.4 |
| 1980 | 2.7 |
| 1990 | 2.6 |
| 2000 | 2.1 |
| 2010 | 1.9 |
How is the noun Zn pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun Zn come from?
Earliest known use
1810s
The earliest known use of the noun Zn is in the 1810s.
OED's earliest evidence for Zn is from 1814.
Zn is formed within English, by clipping or shortening; modelled on a Latin lexical item.
Etymons: zinc n.
Nearby entries
- zizz, int. & n.1824–
- zizzing, n.1884–
- zizzing, adj.1919–
- zizzy, adj.1843–
- Zlid, n.1616–1785
- Z'life, n.1689
- Z line, n.1916–
- Z-list, n. & adj.1979–
- Z-lister, n.1999–
- zloty, n.1915–
- Zn, n.1814–
- -zoa, comb. form
- -zoan, comb. form
- zoantharian, adj. & n.1887–
- zoanthid, n.1870–
- zoanthidan, adj.1888–
- zoanthodeme, n.1877–
- zoanthoid, adj.1854–
- zoanthropic, adj.1891–
- zoanthropy, n.1856–
- zoanthus, n.1841–
Etymology
Meaning & use
- 1814–The element zinc.
- 1814
Zincum, zinc (Zn).
translation of J. J. Berzelius in Annals of Philosophy vol. 3 358 - 1865
The numbers..corresponding to the elements Bi, Pb, Au, Pt, Sn, Zn, Cu, Ni, Fe, and S..are multiplied by the respective specific heats of these bodies.
Philosophical Transactions (Royal Society) vol. 155 73 - 1906
The residue contains In, with some Zn.
H. F. Morley & M. M. P. Muir, Watts' Dictionary Chemistry vol. III. 2/1 - 1956
The Zn coating on galvanized wire shows no preferred orientation.
Journal of Iron & Steel Institute vol. 183 99/2 - 2011
Zn deficiency generally shows up in the early stages of growth, when the plant is only a few inches high.
Irish Independent (Nexis) 12 April
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
Frequency
Zn typically occurs about twice per million words in modern written English.
Zn is in frequency band 5, which contains words occurring between 1 and 10 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency of Zn, n., 1810–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1810 | 0.015 |
| 1820 | 0.015 |
| 1830 | 0.024 |
| 1840 | 0.035 |
| 1850 | 0.062 |
| 1860 | 0.11 |
| 1870 | 0.19 |
| 1880 | 0.3 |
| 1890 | 0.42 |
| 1900 | 0.53 |
| 1910 | 0.64 |
| 1920 | 0.75 |
| 1930 | 0.94 |
| 1940 | 1.2 |
| 1950 | 1.5 |
| 1960 | 1.9 |
| 1970 | 2.4 |
| 1980 | 2.7 |
| 1990 | 2.6 |
| 2000 | 2.1 |
| 2010 | 1.9 |
Frequency of Zn, 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 | 0.2 |
| 2018 | 0.28 |
| 2019 | 0.38 |
| 2020 | 0.53 |
| 2021 | 0.67 |
| 2022 | 0.83 |
| 2023 | 0.91 |
| 2024 | 0.95 |