zinco, n.

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

# zinconoun

## Earlier version

- zinco in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zinco mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zinco. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

#### 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 noun zinco?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1880 | 0.0048
1890 | 0.0053
1900 | 0.0058
1910 | 0.0059
1920 | 0.007
1930 | 0.0089
1940 | 0.0092
1950 | 0.0092
1960 | 0.0093
1970 | 0.0086
1980 | 0.0082
1990 | 0.008
2000 | 0.0057
2010 | 0.0054

### How is the noun zinco pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɪŋkəʊ/

#### U.S. English

/ˈzɪŋkoʊ/

### Where does the noun zinco come from?

Earliest known use

1880s

The earliest known use of the noun zinco is in the 1880s.

OED's earliest evidence for zinco is from 1887, in Scottish Leader.

zinco is formed within English, by clipping or shortening.

Etymons: zincograph n.

### Nearby entries

1. zinc green, n. 1847–
2. zinc-grey | zinc-gray, n. 1881–
3. zincian, adj. 1930–
4. zincic, adj. 1860–
5. zinciferous, adj. 1820–
6. zincification, n. 1891–
7. zincify, v. 1801–
8. zinc-iron, n. & adj. 1849–
9. zincite, n. 1854–
10. zinckenite, n. 1835–
11. zinco, n.1887–
12. zinco-, comb. form
13. zincode, n. 1839–
14. zincograph, n. 1888–
15. zincograph, v. 1865–
16. zincographer, n. 1839–
17. zincographic, adj. 1850–
18. zincography, n. 1834–
19. zincoid, n. 1842–
20. zinc orange, n. 1918–
21. zincous, adj. 1842–

## Etymology

Shortened < zincograph n..

## Meaning & use

1. 1887–
   = zincograph n.
   1. 1887

      > The zinco has some resemblance to Mr. G.

      Scottish Leader 23 November 5
   2. 1889

      > Drawings Wanted (on litho paper for zincoing) for a Provincial Journal.

      Athenæum 26 October 541/2
   3. 1891

      > Various ‘processes’ of which the ‘zinco-process’ is one of the commonest.

      Cost of Production (ed. 2) 44
   engraving and etching
   1. zinco 1887–
      = zincograph, n.
   2. zincograph 1888–
      A design or impression produced by zincography.
   3. zincotype
      In various other terms: zincocalcite n. British English/zɪŋkəʊˈkælsaɪt/ Mineralogy (see quot. 1892). zincolysis n. British English/zɪŋˈkɒlɪsɪs/…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɪŋkəʊ/

### U.S. English

/ˈzɪŋkoʊ/

####

##### 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.

## Frequency

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

zinco 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 zinco, n., 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 | 0.0048
1890 | 0.0053
1900 | 0.0058
1910 | 0.0059
1920 | 0.007
1930 | 0.0089
1940 | 0.0092
1950 | 0.0092
1960 | 0.0093
1970 | 0.0086
1980 | 0.0082
1990 | 0.008
2000 | 0.0057
2010 | 0.0054

zinco, n. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.

zinco, n. was last modified in December 2024.