zeepverb
Factsheet
What does the verb zeep mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the verb zeep. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the verb zeep?
| 1880 | 0.0008 |
| 1890 | 0.0008 |
| 1900 | 0.0007 |
| 1910 | 0.0008 |
| 1920 | 0.0009 |
| 1930 | 0.001 |
| 1940 | 0.0008 |
| 1950 | 0.0007 |
| 1960 | 0.0007 |
| 1970 | 0.0007 |
| 1980 | 0.0005 |
| 1990 | 0.0004 |
| 2000 | 0.0004 |
| 2010 | 0.0003 |
How is the verb zeep pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the verb zeep come from?
Earliest known use
1880s
The earliest known use of the verb zeep is in the 1880s.
OED's earliest evidence for zeep is from 1886, in Gleanings Bee Culture.
It is also recorded as a noun from the 1870s.
zeep is formed within English, by conversion.
Etymons: zeep n.
Nearby entries
- zed, n.c1175–
- zedbed, n.1954–
- zedoary, n.Old English–
- zedonk, n.1961–
- zee, n.1580–
- Zeelander, n.c1400–
- Zeelandic, adj.1802–
- Zeelandish, adj.1593–
- Zeeman, n.1897–
- zeep, n.1878–
- zeep, v.1886–
- zeeping, adj.1895–
- zef, adj.1990–
- zegadine, n.1651–
- zeilanite, n.1815–
- zein, n.1820–
- Zeiss, n.1876–
- zeitgeber, n.1958–
- zeitgeist, n.1848–
- zeitgeisty, adj.1966–
- zek, n.1968–
Etymology
Meaning & use
- 1886–intransitive. To produce a high-pitched noise like that produced by friction or something travelling at speed; esp. (of an animal or bird) to give a call or emit a sound of this sort. Also occasionally transitive: to cause (something) to produce such a sound. Cf. zeep n.
- 1886
Queens do not ‘zeep, zeep’, for their own pleasure.
Gleanings Bee Culture 1 June 450/1 - 1917
She could hear the queen in one hive ‘zeep-zeeping’.
M. Webb, Gone to Earth xxviii. 234 - 1935
Tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway.
S. Beckett, Echo's Bones & Other Precipitates - 1962
Hundreds of frogs sang in harmony with the sounds of happy ducks ‘quacking’ and ‘zeeping’.
Janesville (Wisconsin) Daily Gazette 11 April 18/1 - 1991
A cold, snowy, moonlit night when the snow ‘zeeps’ underfoot at every step.
M. C. Gilfillan, Moods of Ohio Moons 14
the world physical sensation hearing and noise degree, kind, or quality of sound continuous or protracted sound sibilant sound [transitive verbs] make sibilant cause to make zipping sound- zeep1886–intransitive. To produce a high-pitched noise like that produced by friction or something travelling at speed; esp. (of an animal or bird) to give a…
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
Forms
Variant forms
Frequency
zeep typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zeep 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 of zeep, v., 1880–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1880 | 0.0008 |
| 1890 | 0.0008 |
| 1900 | 0.0007 |
| 1910 | 0.0008 |
| 1920 | 0.0009 |
| 1930 | 0.001 |
| 1940 | 0.0008 |
| 1950 | 0.0007 |
| 1960 | 0.0007 |
| 1970 | 0.0007 |
| 1980 | 0.0005 |
| 1990 | 0.0004 |
| 2000 | 0.0004 |
| 2010 | 0.0003 |
Compounds & derived words
- zeeping, adj. 1895–Designating a high-pitched noise like that…