ziphioid, adj. & n.

ziphioid
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/ziphioid_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2021

# ziphioidadjective & noun

## Earlier version

- ziphioid, a. and n. in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the word ziphioid mean?

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

### How common is the word ziphioid?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1860 | 0.001
1870 | 0.0009
1880 | 0.0013
1890 | 0.0012
1900 | 0.0013
1910 | 0.0012
1920 | 0.0009
1930 | 0.0009
1940 | 0.0008
1950 | 0.0006
1960 | 0.0006
1970 | 0.0005
1980 | 0.0003
1990 | 0.0003
2000 | 0.0003
2010 | 0.0003

### How is the word ziphioid pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɪfiɔɪd/
ZIFF-ee-oyd

#### U.S. English

/ˈzɪfiˌɔɪd/
ZIFF-ee-oyd

### Where does the word ziphioid come from?

Earliest known use

1860s

The earliest known use of the word ziphioid is in the 1860s.

OED's earliest evidence for ziphioid is from 1861, in the Times (London).

ziphioid is a borrowing from Latin, combined with an English element.

Etymons: Latin Ziphius, ‑oid suffix.

### Nearby entries

1. zip coon, n. 1833–
2. zip cuff, n. 1995–
3. zip cuff, v. 1996–
4. Zipf, n. 1936–
5. zip fastener, n. 1925–
6. zip fastening, n. & adj. 1925–
7. zip gun, n. 1914–
8. Ziph, n. 1834–
9. ziphian, n. & adj. 1896
10. ziphiiform, adj. 1891
11. ziphioid, adj. & n.1861–
12. zipless, adj. 1922–
13. zip line, n. 1970–
14. zip line, v. 1998–
15. zipliner, n. 1993–
16. zip lining, n.?1983–
17. zip-lipped, adj. 1943–
18. ziplock, n. 1928–
19. zipped, adj. 1931–
20. zippeite, n. 1850–
21. zipper, n. 1923–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Latin, combined with an English element.
Etymons: Latin Ziphius, ‑oid suffix.
< scientific Latin Ziphius, genus name (Cuvier Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles (1823) vol. V. i. 352 ; < post-classical Latin ziphius a kind of sea monster (13th cent. or earlier; also zifius) <…
< scientific Latin Ziphius, genus name (Cuvier Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles (1823) vol. V. i. 352 ; < post-classical Latin ziphius a kind of sea monster (13th cent. or earlier; also zifius) < Byzantine Greek ξίϕιος, variant of ancient Greek ξιϕίας swordfish: see xiphias n.) + ‑oid suffix, originally after French ziphioïde and scientific Latin ziphioidea (both 1850). Compare scientific Latin Ziphioidea, suborder (later superfamily) name (1868).

### Notes

In the (rare) β forms showing alteration after scientific Latin Xiphius, emended form of the genus name (L. Agassiz 1846), and ancient Greek ξιϕίας (see above). Compare xiphioid adj. & n., referring to the swordfish.

## Meaning & use

Zoology.

1. adjective
   1. 1861–
      Of or relating to the genus Ziphius or family Ziphiidae of beaked and bottlenose whales; belonging to or having the characteristics of this genus or family.
      The group is also ranked as a superfamily Ziphioidea.
      1. 1861

         > M. Paul Gervais has addressed a communication to the Academy of Sciences on the subject of an extinct species of ziphoid cetaceous fish.

         Times 27 September 10/3
      2. 1870

         > A Ziphioid Whale, probably Berardius Arnuxii.

         Annals & Magazine of Natural History vol. 6 348
      3. 1889

         > By Purchase, the Museum acquired..the teeth of the rare Xiphioid Whale, Mesoplodon Layardii.

         Rep. Trustees S.-Afr. Museum 1888 3
      4. 1949

         > So rare are observations on the ziphoid (beaked) whales at sea that readers of whaling journals and similar yarns should be sharp for the word ‘algerine’.

         Journal Mammalogy vol. 30 321
      5. 2014

         > Van Beneden..proposed that Mesoplodon bidens was cosmopolitan in its distribution, a feature he considered to apply to most of the ziphioid whales.

         Arch. Natural History vol. 41 340
      animals
      1. ziphioid 1861–
         Of or relating to the genus Ziphius or family Ziphiidae of beaked and bottlenose whales; belonging to or having the characteristics of this genus…
      2. ziphiiform 1891
         Designating a whale of the type represented by the genus Ziphius; = ziphioid, adj.
      3. ziphian 1896
         Belonging to or having the characteristics of the whale family Ziphiidae; = ziphioid, adj.
      View in Historical Thesaurus
2. noun
   1. 1862–
      A ziphioid whale.
      1. 1862

         > The Balænodon of Lintz is rather a ziphioid.

         Geologist vol. 5 107
      2. 1876

         > The Cetaceans classed together as Ziphoids have no teeth in the upper jaw.

         C. S. Tomes, Manual of Dental Anatomy ix. 288
      3. 1912

         > The Bottle-nosed whales go about in small herds, and, like the other Ziphioids, the male and female are recognizably different.

         D. W. Thompson in G. H. Fowler, Sci. Sea xii. 398
      4. 2005

         > Pitman et al. have tried to differentiate it from other ziphioids, especially Hyperoodon, by comparing observations at sea, including behaviour.

         Latin American Journal Aquatic Mammals vol. 4 93/2
      animals
      1. ziphioid 1862–
         A ziphioid whale.
      2. ziphian 1896
         A ziphioid whale; = ziphioid, n.
      View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɪfiɔɪd/
ZIFF-ee-oyd

### U.S. English

/ˈzɪfiˌɔɪd/
ZIFF-ee-oyd

####

##### 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

##### α.

1. 1800s–
   ziphioid, ziphoid

##### β.

1. 1800s
   xiphoid
2. 1800s–
   xiphioid

## Frequency

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

ziphioid is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 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 ziphioid, adj. & n., 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 | 0.001
1870 | 0.0009
1880 | 0.0013
1890 | 0.0012
1900 | 0.0013
1910 | 0.0012
1920 | 0.0009
1930 | 0.0009
1940 | 0.0008
1950 | 0.0006
1960 | 0.0006
1970 | 0.0005
1980 | 0.0003
1990 | 0.0003
2000 | 0.0003
2010 | 0.0003

ziphioid, adj. & n. was revised in March 2021.

ziphioid, adj. & n. was last modified in July 2023.