zooplastic, adj.

zooplastic
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zooplastic_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2017

# zooplasticadjective

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective zooplastic mean?

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

zooplastic has developed meanings and uses in subjects including

sculpture (1870s) surgery (1880s)

### How common is the adjective zooplastic?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1870 | 0.0007
1880 | 0.0007
1890 | 0.0007
1900 | 0.0006
1910 | 0.0004
1920 | 0.0004
1930 | 0.0004
1940 | 0.0002
1950 | 0.0001
1960 | 0.0001
1970 | 0.00007
1980 | 0.00006
1990 | 0.00007
2000 | 0.00005
2010 | 0.00006

### How is the adjective zooplastic pronounced?

#### British English

/ˌzuː(ə)ˈplastɪk/
zoo-uh-PLASS-tick
/ˌzəʊəˈplastɪk/
zoh-uh-PLASS-tick

#### U.S. English

/ˌzu(ə)ˈplæstɪk/
zoo-uh-PLASS-tick
/ˌzoʊəˈplæstɪk/
zoh-uh-PLASS-tick

### Where does the adjective zooplastic come from?

Earliest known use

1850s

The earliest known use of the adjective zooplastic is in the 1850s.

OED's earliest evidence for zooplastic is from before 1855, in the writing of C. B. Mansfield.

zooplastic is formed within English, by compounding.

Etymons: zoo- comb. form, plastic adj.

### Nearby entries

1. zoophytoid, adj. 1854–83
2. zoophytological, adj. 1823–
3. zoophytologist, n. 1835–
4. zoophytology, n. 1815–
5. zoophyton, n. 1601–
6. zooplankter, n. 1935–
7. zooplanktivore, n. 1972–
8. zooplanktivorous, adj. 1971–
9. zooplankton, n. 1897–
10. zooplanktonic, adj. 1912–
11. zooplastic, adj.a1855–
12. zoopraxinoscope, n. 1889–
13. zoopraxiscope, n. 1881–
14. zoopraxography, n. 1891–
15. zoopsychology, n. 1847–
16. zooscopic, adj. 1817–
17. zooscopy, n. 1891–
18. zoosematic, adj. 1898–1909
19. zoosemiotics, n. 1963–
20. zoosophy, n. 1662–1848
21. zoosperm, n. 1824–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by compounding.
< zoo- comb. form + plastic adj.…
< zoo- comb. form + plastic adj.

### Notes

With sense 2 compare Hellenistic Greek ζῳοπλαστεῖν to work into a lifelike shape, ζῳοπλαστης divine creator, Byzantine Greek ζῳοπλαστία artistic representation.
In sense 3 perhaps after French zooplastique (1876 or earlier); compare earlier autoplastic adj.

## Meaning & use

1. 1.
   a1855–61
   † That creates or shapes life or living things. Obsolete. rare.
   1. a1855

      > It is most likely that under the Zooplastic forces of the vegetal world this synthesis really takes place.

      C. B. Mansfield, Theory of Salts (1865) ii. iii. 136 (note)
   2. 1861

      > Vitality, Zooism, or the Zooplastic principle, would seem to be connected with some peculiar modification of matter.

      R. Grattan, Consider. Human Mind ix. 126
2. 2.
   1872–
   With reference to sculpture, art, etc.: that represents or seeks to represent living beings or animals. rare.
   1. 1872

      > The great mimetic instinct underlies all such purpose [sc. the fashioning of figures of living creatures]; and is zooplastic, life-shaping.

      J. Ruskin, Aratra Pentelici ii, in Works vol. III. 31
   2. 1977

      > Gaudier..warped stone into a new topology that Ruskin would have called zooplastic.

      Sewanee Review vol. 85 517
   3. 2012

      > Indian designs, pastels and browns and pinks, alternately anthropomorphic or zooplastic.

      T. Kosmatka, Games 181
   sculpture
   1. equestrial 1556–
      = equestrian, adj.
   2. marine a1701–
      Of painting, sculpture, ornament, etc.: depicting the sea or subjects connected with the sea (as boats, fishes, shells, etc.).
   3. equestrian 1711–
      Mounted on a horse. Also of a portrait or statue: Representing a person on horseback.
   4. scenic 1835–
      Of painting, sculpture, etc.: representing or depicting a dramatic tableau or scene (cf. scene, n. II.10).
   5. leaf-carved 1836–
      Carved with a pattern or motif of leaves.
   6. zooplastic 1872–
      With reference to sculpture, art, etc.: that represents or seeks to represent living beings or animals. rare.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
3. 3.
   1888–
   Designating tissue transplanted from an animal to a human recipient, and the action of transplanting tissue in this way. Cf. xenograft n., xenotransplant n., xenotransplantation n. Now rare.
   1. 1888

      > Zooplastic grafts.

      British Medical Journal 18 February 367/2 (heading)
   2. 1929

      > The inherent difficulties encountered in heteroplastic and zooplastic grafting of other organs does not offer much encouragement when applied to the parathyroid glands.

      American Journal of Surgery vol. 6 33/1
   3. 1969

      > We have eliminated these hazards by using a heterologous zooplastic graft, made of calf bone.

      Acta Neurochirurgica vol. 20 59
   4. 2008

      > When Pope Pius XII addressed the Italian Association of Donors of the Cornea in 1956, he distinguished between permissible and morally objectionable ‘zooplastic transplants’.

      S. E. Lederer, Flesh & Blood vii. 198
   surgery
   1. zooplastic 1888–
      Designating tissue transplanted from an animal to a human recipient, and the action of transplanting tissue in this way. Cf. xenograft, n., xenotrans…
   2. heteroplastic 1898–
      Surgery. Said of a graft between two individuals of different species.
   3. heterotransplanted 1920–
   4. heterogenous 1939–
      Surgery. Of transplanted tissue. = heteroplastic, adj. 3.
   5. heterografted 1961–
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˌzuː(ə)ˈplastɪk/
zoo-uh-PLASS-tick
/ˌzəʊəˈplastɪk/
zoh-uh-PLASS-tick

### U.S. English

/ˌzu(ə)ˈplæstɪk/
zoo-uh-PLASS-tick
/ˌzoʊəˈplæstɪk/
zoh-uh-PLASS-tick

####

##### 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

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

zooplastic 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 zooplastic, adj., 1870–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1870 | 0.0007
1880 | 0.0007
1890 | 0.0007
1900 | 0.0006
1910 | 0.0004
1920 | 0.0004
1930 | 0.0004
1940 | 0.0002
1950 | 0.0001
1960 | 0.0001
1970 | 0.00007
1980 | 0.00006
1990 | 0.00007
2000 | 0.00005
2010 | 0.00006

Originally published as part of the entry for zoo-, comb. form

zooplastic, adj. was revised in June 2017.

zooplastic, adj. was last modified in September 2024.