zootic, adj.

zootic
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zootic_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2017

# zooticadjective

## Earlier version

- zootic, a. in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective zootic mean?

There are three meanings listed in OED's entry for the adjective zootic, one of which is labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

zootic has developed meanings and uses in subjects including

pathology (1810s) geology (1820s)

### How common is the adjective zootic?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1810 | 0.0016
1820 | 0.0015
1830 | 0.0013
1840 | 0.0011
1850 | 0.0009
1860 | 0.0009
1870 | 0.0004
1880 | 0.0004
1890 | 0.0002
1900 | 0.0002
1910 | 0.0002
1920 | 0.0006
1930 | 0.0008
1940 | 0.001
1950 | 0.0013
1960 | 0.0015
1970 | 0.0015
1980 | 0.0015
1990 | 0.0014
2000 | 0.0013
2010 | 0.0012

### How is the adjective zootic pronounced?

#### British English

/zuːˈɒtɪk/
zoo-OT-ik
/zəʊˈɒtɪk/
zoh-OT-ik

#### U.S. English

/zəˈwɑdɪk/
zuh-WAH-dick
/zoʊˈɑdɪk/
zoh-AH-dick

### Where does the adjective zootic come from?

Earliest known use

1810s

The earliest known use of the adjective zootic is in the 1810s.

OED's earliest evidence for zootic is from 1816, in the writing of G. E. Male.

zootic is of multiple origins. Either (i) a borrowing from Latin. Or (ii) a borrowing from French.

Etymons: Latin zooticus; French zootique.

### Nearby entries

1. zootaxy, n. 1833–
2. zootechnic, adj. 1861–
3. zootechnics, n. 1863–
4. zootechny, n. 1841–
5. zootheca, n. 1852–
6. zoothecium, n. 1880–
7. zootheism, n. 1879–
8. zootheist, n. 1879–
9. zootheistic, adj. 1879–
10. zoothome, n. 1872–
11. zootic, adj.1816–
12. zootokon, n. 1661
13. zootomic, adj. 1801–
14. zootomical, adj. 1799–
15. zootomically, adv. 1849–
16. zootomist, n. 1663–
17. zootomy, n. 1663–
18. zootoxin, n. 1906–
19. zootrophy, n. 1877–
20. zoot suit, n. 1942–
21. zoot-suited, adj. 1942–

## Etymology

### Summary

Either (i) a borrowing from Latin. Or (ii) a borrowing from French.
Etymons: Latin zooticus; French zootique.
< scientific Latin zooticus (1803 or earlier) or its etymon French zootique (in acide zootique: 1786 or earlier) < ancient Greek ζῷον animal (see zoon n.) + ‑oticus ‑otic suffix…
< scientific Latin zooticus (1803 or earlier) or its etymon French zootique (in acide zootique: 1786 or earlier) < ancient Greek ζῷον animal (see zoon n.) + ‑oticus ‑otic suffix.

### Notes

In sense 3 after French zootique (1813 in the work translated in quot. 1824).

## Meaning & use

1. 1.
   1816–
   zootic acid noun
   Now rare or disused. Hydrogen cyanide, prussic acid.
   1. 1816

      > Zootic acid..has lately been announced as a new poison.

      G. E. Male, Epitome Juridical or Forensic Medicine 189
   2. 1868

      > Zootic Acid, syn. with Hydrocyanic Acid.

      H. Watts, Dictionary of Chemistry vol. V. 1085
   3. 1905

      > What is the difference between Zootic Acid and Azotic Acid?

      J. N. Clark, Course in Pharmacy 184
   4. 2005

      > Prussic acid;..Zootic acid; Zyklon B. Present in apricot and peach pits in low concentrations, extremely toxic.

      G.W.A. Milne, Gardner's Commercially Important Chemicals 529/1
   chemistry disused
   1. prussic acid 1788–
      = hydrogen cyanide, n.; (also figurative) poisonous, unpleasant.
   2. zootic acid 1816–
      Hydrogen cyanide, prussic acid.
   3. ferrocyanic acid 1817–
      An acid obtained by acidifying ferrocyanides, forming white crystals.
   4. ferroprussic acid 1821–
      = ferrocyanic acid, n.
   5. ferrocyanhydric acid 1843–
      = ferrocyanic acid, n.
   6. thiocyanic acid 1877–
      In thiocyanic acid, N⋮C.SH = cyanic acid, N⋮C.OH, in which oxygen is replaced by sulfur; a liquid with a penetrating odour.
   7. hydroferrocyanic acid
      In hydroferrocyˈanic acid = hydrogen ferrocyanide, H4FeCy6.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
2. 2.
   1818–
   Originally: of or relating to animals; spec. designating a disease occurring in animals. In later use: designating a disease which can be transmitted naturally from animals to humans; = zoonotic adj.
   Cf. enzootic adj., epizootic adj. A.1, panzootic adj.
   1. 1818

      > It is with pleasure we find Zootic Medicine more generally cultivated. The diseases of horses are for the most part simple and better understood.

      London Medical & Physical Journal vol. 39 5
   2. 1851

      > Epidemic zootic diseases have..ravaged the cattle of many countries from the earliest period of history.

      H. Stephens, Farmer's Guide vol. II. 178/2
   3. 1899

      > Zoötic diseases communicable to man.

      British Medical Journal 6 May 1094/1
   4. 1942

      > ‘Zootic’, typhus fevers are of minor importance as war diseases.

      British Medical Journal 3 October 401/
   5. 1998

      > Persons who have regular contact with wild rodents or their fleas in areas in which there is zootic plague.

      J. D. Poland & D. T. Dennis in A. S. Evans & P. S. Brachman, Bacterial Infections of Humans (ed. 3) xxvii. 556/1
   6. 2008

      > When you look at new and emerging diseases many are zootic and passable from animals to man.

      Times 21 April 21/1
   pathology
   1. zootic 1818–
      Originally: of or relating to animals; spec. designating a disease occurring in animals. In later use: designating a disease which can be transmitted…
   2. zoonotic 1877–
      Of or relating to a disease which can be transmitted naturally from animals to humans (cf. zoonosis, n.). Also: designating such a disease.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
3. 3.
   1824–34
   † Geology. Containing the remains of living organisms. Obsolete.
   1. 1824

      > Variolite..Principal varieties..Zootic..Portions of entrochi mixed with the calcareous nodules.

      H. T. De la Beche, translation of A. Brongniart in Select. Geol. Mem. Annales des Mines p. xv
   2. 1830

      > It is not necessary..to explain how these different species of fossils have been formed, in localities of different degrees of antiquity, from the oldest zootic strata, to those which are being formed daily under our actual inspection.

      E. Pidgeon, Fossil Remains Animal Kingdom 382
   3. 1834

      > Spilites with crystalline geodes and nodules, sometimes zootic.

      W. Ainsworth, Caves Ballybunian 69
   geology

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zuːˈɒtɪk/
zoo-OT-ik
/zəʊˈɒtɪk/
zoh-OT-ik

### U.S. English

/zəˈwɑdɪk/
zuh-WAH-dick
/zoʊˈɑdɪk/
zoh-AH-dick

####

##### 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

## Frequency

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

zootic is in frequency band 2, which contains words occurring between 0.001 and 0.01 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 zootic, adj., 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 | 0.0016
1820 | 0.0015
1830 | 0.0013
1840 | 0.0011
1850 | 0.0009
1860 | 0.0009
1870 | 0.0004
1880 | 0.0004
1890 | 0.0002
1900 | 0.0002
1910 | 0.0002
1920 | 0.0006
1930 | 0.0008
1940 | 0.001
1950 | 0.0013
1960 | 0.0015
1970 | 0.0015
1980 | 0.0015
1990 | 0.0014
2000 | 0.0013
2010 | 0.0012

zootic, adj. was revised in June 2017.

zootic, adj. was last modified in July 2023.