zonal, adj.

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

# zonaladjective

## Earlier version

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

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective zonal mean?

There are five meanings listed in OED's entry for the adjective zonal. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

zonal has developed meanings and uses in subjects including

geometry (1860s) crystals (1860s) plants (1860s) soil science (1900s)

#### 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 adjective zonal?

About 1occurrence per million words in modern written English

1860 | 0.046
1870 | 0.078
1880 | 0.14
1890 | 0.2
1900 | 0.25
1910 | 0.31
1920 | 0.37
1930 | 0.64
1940 | 1.0
1950 | 1.4
1960 | 1.6
1970 | 1.6
1980 | 1.4
1990 | 1.1
2000 | 0.85
2010 | 0.73

### How is the adjective zonal pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzəʊnl/
ZOH-nuhl

#### U.S. English

/ˈzoʊn(ə)l/
ZOH-nuhl

### Where does the adjective zonal come from?

Earliest known use

1860s

The earliest known use of the adjective zonal is in the 1860s.

OED's earliest evidence for zonal is from 1867, in a text by William Thomson, archbishop of York, and Peter Tait, physicist and mathematician.

zonal is a borrowing from Latin.

Etymons: Latin zōnālis.

### Nearby entries

1. zombification, n. 1968–
2. zombified, adj. 1965–
3. zombify, v. 1950–
4. zombocalypse, n. 2007–
5. zomboid, adj. 1963–
6. zom-com, n. 2004–
7. zomotherapeutic, adj. 1900–
8. zomotherapy, n. 1900–
9. zona, n. 1706–
10. zona ignea, n. 1818–
11. zonal, adj.1867–
12. zonality, n. 1909–
13. zonally, adv. 1873–
14. zonal marking, n. 1958–
15. zona pellucida, n. 1841–
16. zona radiata, n. 1881–
17. zona reticularis, n. 1874–
18. zonarious, adj. 1656–
19. zonary, adj. 1881–
20. zonate, adj. 1866–
21. zonated, adj. 1803–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Latin.
Etymon: Latin zōnālis.
< modern Latin zōnālis, < Latin zōna zone n.

## Meaning & use

1. 1. 1.a.
      1873–
      Characterized by or arranged in zones, circles, or rings; of the nature of or forming a zone.
      1. 1873

         > In ‘zonal’ symmetry the merosomes are arranged in zones, one after another, in a longitudinal axis.

         A. Wilson, Elements of Zoology i. ii. 22
      2. 1888

         > The small spherical crystalline aggregates show..a concentric zonal structure.

         F. Rutley, Rock-forming Minerals 124
      1. zoned 1794–
         Characterized by or arranged (naturally) in zones, rings, or bands.
      2. zonal 1873–
         Characterized by or arranged in zones, circles, or rings; of the nature of or forming a zone.
      View in Historical Thesaurus
   2. 1.b.
      1868–
      Marked with zones or circular bands of colour: applied to varieties of pelargonium or geranium having the leaves so marked.
      1. 1868

         > The cultivators of zonal pelargoniums, or variegated leaf-coloured geraniums, had a grand competition.

         Morning Star 17 June
      2. 1908

         > The zonal geranium.

         Nation 22 February 756/2
      plants
      1. zonal 1868–
         Marked with zones or circular bands of colour: applied to varieties of pelargonium or geranium having the leaves so marked.
      2. regal 1877–
         Designating any of a group of hybrid pelargoniums (Pelargonium × domesticum) having large, showy flowers in shades of white, pink, red, and purple…
      View in Historical Thesaurus
2. 2.
   1867–
   Mathematics and Crystallography. Relating to a zone or zones of a sphere, or of a crystalline form: see zone n. 8.
   1. 1867

      > These circles..are..all in parallel planes..and cut the spherical surface into zones, in which case the harmonic is called zonal.

      W. Thomson & P. G. Tait, Treatise on Natural Philosophy vol. I. §781
   geometry crystals
   1. zonal 1867–
      Mathematics and Crystallography. Relating to a zone or zones of a sphere, or of a crystalline form: see zone, n. 8.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
3. 3.
   1882–
   Pertaining or relating to, involving, or constituting a ‘zone’ or ‘zones’, i.e. regions or areas distinctively characterized in some way: see zone n. 2b, 7.
   1. 1882

      > The six zonal areas we have thus described will serve our purpose admirably for grouping together our Seaside Health-Resorts.

      Knowledge 7 July 92
   2. 1890

      > Zonal divisions are based upon these bogus species and conclusions drawn from them.

      Nature 4 September 454/2
   3. 1893

      > In tracing the zonal parallelism of the Triassic succession within the Alps themselves.

      A. Geikie, Text-book of Geology (ed. 3) vi.iii. i. 876
   4. 1904

      > The study..of strata characterised by the dominance of a zone-fossil forms zonal geology.

      Edinburgh Review January 219
   5. 1909

      > The companies adopted a zonal tariff (as the State has done for telephone purposes).

      Spectator 29 May 856/2
   1. zonal 1882–
      Pertaining or relating to, involving, or constituting a ‘zone’ or ‘zones’, i.e. regions or areas distinctively characterized in some way: see zone, n.…
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. climatical 1580–1800
      Of or relating to the climates (climate, n.¹ 1a) or parallels of latitude. Obsolete. rare.
   2. co-climatary 1652
      Of the same ‘climate’ or region.
   3. zonic 1797–
      Belonging to a particular zone or region.
   4. zonal 1882–
      Pertaining or relating to, involving, or constituting a ‘zone’ or ‘zones’, i.e. regions or areas distinctively characterized in some way: see zone, n.…
   View in Historical Thesaurus
4. 4.
   1908–
   Soil Science. [< French zonal (N. Sibirtsev 1897, in Compt. Rend. de la VIIe. Session, Congr. géol. internat. (1899) II. iii. v. 80).] Of a soil: regarded as characteristic of a particular climatic or geographic zone and as reflecting the predominant influence of the climate in its formation.
   1. 1908

      > The seven fundamental groups of ‘zonal’ soils just enumerated are spread over the surface of large continents in zones which coincide with the physico-geographical zones of those continents.

      Journal Agric. Science vol. 3 84
   2. 1927

      > Intrazonal soils originate, according to Sibirceff, where local soil forming forces predominate over the general or zonal forces.

      C. F. Marbut, translation of K. D. Glinka, Great Soil Groups 28
   3. 1952

      > In these cases the influence of the material from which the soil is formed overrides that of the climate giving rise to so-called azonal soils (in contrast to the climatic or zonal types).

      P. W. Richards, Tropical Rain Forest ix. 210
   4. 1972

      > Apart from being an over-simplification of reality, the zonal system had the unfortunate effect of restricting, in the mind of the student, the distribution of each zonal soil within the limits of its climatic zone.

      J. G. Cruickshank, Soil Geography iv. 110
   soil science
   1. zonal 1908–
      Soil Science. Of a soil: regarded as characteristic of a particular climatic or geographic zone and as reflecting the predominant influence of the…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzəʊnl/
ZOH-nuhl

### U.S. English

/ˈzoʊn(ə)l/
ZOH-nuhl

####

##### 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

zonal typically occurs about once per million words in modern written English.

zonal 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 data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zonal, adj., 1860–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1860 | 0.046
1870 | 0.078
1880 | 0.14
1890 | 0.2
1900 | 0.25
1910 | 0.31
1920 | 0.37
1930 | 0.64
1940 | 1.0
1950 | 1.4
1960 | 1.6
1970 | 1.6
1980 | 1.4
1990 | 1.1
2000 | 0.85
2010 | 0.73

### Frequency of zonal, adj., 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 | 0.64
2018 | 0.64
2019 | 0.67
2020 | 0.67
2021 | 0.65
2022 | 0.66
2023 | 0.66
2024 | 0.63

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. tautozonal, adj. 1873–
   Belonging to or situated in the same zone (zone…

1. zonally, adv. 1873–
   In or according to zones.

1. subzonal, adj. 1875–
   Embryology. Located or occurring beneath the zona…

1. interzonal, adj. 1881–
   Existing or carried on between zones.

1. azonal, adj. 1896–
   Not confined to a zone, not arranged in zones…

1. zonality, n. 1909–
   Zonal character or distribution.

1. midzonal, adj. 1914–
   Pathology and Histology. Of, relating to, or…

1. trizonal, adj. 1948–
   Of, relating to, or consisting of three zones…

1. zonal marking, n. 1958–
   A system of defensive play in which an individual…

1. heterozonal, adj.
   Said of faces (or poles) of a crystallographic…

zonal, adj. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.

zonal, adj. was last modified in July 2023.