zhuzhverb
Factsheet
What does the verb zhuzh mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the verb zhuzh. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the verb zhuzh?
| 2017 | 0.0023 |
| 2018 | 0.0049 |
| 2019 | 0.0076 |
| 2020 | 0.012 |
| 2021 | 0.02 |
| 2022 | 0.027 |
| 2023 | 0.03 |
| 2024 | 0.034 |
How is the verb zhuzh pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the verb zhuzh come from?
Earliest known use
1970s
The earliest known use of the verb zhuzh is in the 1970s.
OED's earliest evidence for zhuzh is from 1970, in the writing of P. Burton.
It is also recorded as a noun from the 1960s.
zhuzh is perhaps an imitative or expressive formation.
Nearby entries
- Zeuxis-like, adj.1665–
- zeuxite, n.1836–
- zeze, n.1860–
- Zhdanovism, n.1958–
- Zhdanovist, adj.1966–
- Zhdanovite, adj.1957–
- zho, n.1841–
- zhomo, n.1841–
- zhuyin zimu, n.1938–
- zhuzh, n.1968–
- zhuzh, v.1970–
- zhuzhy, adj.1968–
- ziamet, n.1807–
- ziarat, n.1776–
- zibeline, n.1585–
- zibet, n.1594–
- zibet-muff, n.1685
- zibib, n.1836–
- ziczac, n.1844–
- zidovudine, n.1987–
- Ziegfeld, n.1913–
Etymology
Summary
Notes
Meaning & use
- 1970–transitive. To smarten up (someone or something); to make (something) more stylish, attractive, or exciting. Also with up.Originally used among gay men, apparently in Polari slang.
- 1970
A zhooshy quean is a grand quean, to zhoosh up is to get ready.
P. Burton, Lang. of their own: Polari, West End Homosexual Slang (typescript) (OED Archive) p. ii - 1977
As feely homies..we would zhoosh our riahs, powder our eeks, climb into our bona new drag, don our batts and troll off to some bona bijou bar.
Gay News 2 June 23/1 - 1988
Mostly the words are dusted off and brought out when we wish to zhoosh up a conversation, to announce a particular delight in our queenly style.
N. Bartlett, Who was that Man? iv. 82 - 1990
In 1815 the Prince had employed John Nash, architect of Regent's Park, to zhoosh up his rather plain and classical farmhouse by the sea.
Gay Times March 25/3 - 2020
We're here to help you zhuzh up your Zoom background with some [‘glowing star’ emoji] inspiring images!
@greenpeaceusa 2 May in twitter.com (accessed 7 May 2020)
the mind attention and judgement beautification beautification of the person [transitive verbs] beautify (the person)- highta1200–1658transitive. To beautify, adorn, embellish (literal and figurative); to enhance, improve. Cf. hightle, v.
- atiffe?c1225–50To adorn, deck (the person).
- tiff?c1225–1768transitive. To attire, dress, deck out, trick out, ‘tittivate’ (one's person, hair, etc.). (In 18th cent. like French attifer, usually familiar.)
- wyndre?a1366transitive. To trim, deck, or embellish (oneself, the brows, etc.).
- kembc1386–figurative. To trim, make smooth or elegant.
- picka1393–transitive. To make clean, trim, or neat; to titivate. Now only: spec. (of a bird) to preen. Frequently reflexive. Also intransitive with…
- prunec1395–1892Of a person. Cf. preen, v.² 1. transitive. To tidy (the hair, clothes, etc.) with great attention to detail; to smarten or spruce up; to primp…
- tifta1400–transitive. To prepare, make ready, put in order; to dress.
- varnishc1405–transferred. To invest with a bright or glossy appearance; to smear or stain with some substance similar to varnish.
- finea1425–1703transitive. To make beautiful or elegant; to smarten up. Obsolete.
- tifflea1425transitive. To dress up, adorn, deck or trick out (in a trifling or time-wasting way). Obsolete.
- quaint1484transitive (reflexive). To adorn oneself; to make oneself fine or beautiful. rare.
- embuda1529transitive. To cover as with buds.
- trick?1532–transitive. To dress, array, attire; to deck, prank; to adorn (usually with the notion of artifice). Const. with, in. Also intransitive with it. Also…
- dill1548–1616transitive. To trim, deck, dress up. (Also absol.)
- tricka1555–Often strengthened with up, off, out.
- prink1573–colloquial. transitive. To make tidy, spruce, or smart; to dress up, deck out, adorn. Frequently reflexive. Also figurative.
- primpc1586–transitive. To make (the hair, clothes, etc.) neat and tidy; to smarten (something) up. Also reflexive: to neaten one's appearance, esp. in a fussy…
- smug1588–transitive. To smarten up (oneself or another, one's appearance, etc.); to make neat, spruce, or attractive. Frequently with up.
- sponge1588–1627With up: To make spruce, smart, or trim.
- smudge1589–96transitive. To make smart or trim; to deck or trick up.
- perk1590–1868transitive. To make attractive, neat, or smart; to deck out; to brighten or embellish. Chiefly with up. Obsolete.
- sponge1592–94Similarly without up. Obsolete.
- tricksy1598transitive. To make ‘tricksy’ or spruce.
- prime1616–1782transitive. colloquial. To make up (the face, etc.) with cosmetics. Obsolete.
- sprug1622–1875transitive. To smarten (a person) up; to dress (a person) smartly or attractively. Also reflexive.
- briska1625–1710transitive. To smarten up; to dress finely, to trim. Obsolete.
- to sleek upa1625–to sleek up, to make presentable, or of attractive appearance.
- trickify1678transitive. To trick, deck, adorn: = trick, v. II.5.
- prim1688–intransitive. To assume a formal, precise, or demure look or air; to set the lips or face demurely or alluringly; to pout. Also transitive with it…
- titivate1705–transitive. To improve the appearance of (a person) by tidying the hair, putting on make-up, etc.; to make (oneself or one's hair) look neater…
- dandify1823–transitive. To give the character or style of a dandy to; to make trim or smart like a dandy.
- beflounce1824–
- befop1866–
- spry1878–transitive. To smarten up.
- lustrify1886–transitive. To make lustrous.
- dude1899–transitive. To dress (someone) up so as to appear fashionable, smart, or eye-catching; to smarten or spruce up.
- doll1916–transitive. To dress up finely or elaborately; to deck up. Also intransitive (for reflexive) and transferred.
- to tart up1938–to tart up. transitive. To dress or adorn (oneself or another person) so as to look more attractive, esp. in a way regarded as showy, gaudy, or…
- youthify1945–transitive. To make (a person) appear more youthful.
- pansy1946–transitive. To clothe or adorn in an affected, overly refined, or fussy manner. Frequently reflexive and with up.
- spiv1947–a. intransitive to make one's living as a spiv; b. transitive to spiff, to spruce (oneself) up.
- dolly1958–To prettify; to doll up (see doll, v.²).
- zhuzh1970–transitive. To smarten up (someone or something); to make (something) more stylish, attractive, or exciting. Also with up.
the mind attention and judgement beauty pleasing appearance [transitive verbs] look well in make spruce- spruce1594–transitive. Frequently with up. To make (a place, a person's clothing or appearance, etc.) spruce, neat, or attractive; to improve the appearance…
- smirk1596transitive. To trim up, to make neat or spruce.
- spruce1598–transitive (reflexive). To make one's appearance neater or more attractive; to smarten oneself up. Formerly also with out.
- sprucify1611–transitive. To make neat, trim, or attractive in appearance; to smarten; to spruce up.
- slick1834–transferred. To polish up, make elegant or fine. Also with off, up. Sometimes with derogatory overtones.
- titivate1842–transitive. To improve the appearance or condition of (something); to make smarter or more appealing; esp. to tidy or spruce up (a room); to repair…
- zhuzh1970–transitive. To smarten up (someone or something); to make (something) more stylish, attractive, or exciting. Also with up.
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
- 1900s–zhoosh, zhush
- 2000s–joosh, joozh, zhoozh, zhuzh
Frequency
zhuzh typically occurs about 0.02 times per million words in modern written English.
zhuzh is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency of zhuzh, v., 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 | 0.0023 |
| 2018 | 0.0049 |
| 2019 | 0.0076 |
| 2020 | 0.012 |
| 2021 | 0.02 |
| 2022 | 0.027 |
| 2023 | 0.03 |
| 2024 | 0.034 |
Compounds & derived words
- zhuzhy, adj. 1968–Stylish, attractive, exciting. Also sometimes…