zamburak, n.

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

# zamburaknoun

## Earlier version

- zumbooruk in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zamburak mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zamburak. 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 zamburak?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1820 | 0.0036
1830 | 0.0035
1840 | 0.0032
1850 | 0.0029
1860 | 0.002
1870 | 0.0021
1880 | 0.0019
1890 | 0.0009
1900 | 0.0005
1910 | 0.0002
1920 | 0.0001
1930 | 0.0001
1940 | 0.0001
1950 | 0.0001
1960 | 0.0001
1970 | 0.0001
1980 | 0.0001
1990 | 0.0001
2000 | 0.0002
2010 | 0.0002

### How is the noun zamburak pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzambʊrʌk/

### Where does the noun zamburak come from?

Earliest known use

1820s

The earliest known use of the noun zamburak is in the 1820s.

OED's earliest evidence for zamburak is from 1825, in the writing of James B. Fraser, traveller and artist.

zamburak is a borrowing from Urdu.

Etymons: Urdu zambūrak.

### Nearby entries

1. zamarra, n. 1841–
2. zama zama, n. 2006–
3. Zamazim, n. a1400–
4. Zambian, adj. & n. 1959–
5. Zambianization, n. 1964–
6. Zambianize, v. 1964–
7. zambo, n. 1819–
8. Zamboni, n. 1965–
9. zambra, n. 1672–
10. zambuk, n. 1906–
11. zamburak, n.1825–
12. zami, n. 1977–
13. Zamia, n. 1819–
14. zamindar, n. 1683–
15. zamindari, n. & adj. 1742–
16. zamindarship, n. 1698–1902
17. zamioid, adj. 1860–
18. zamorin, n. 1582–
19. zampino, n. 1881–
20. zampogna, n. 1740–
21. zampone, n. 1860–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Urdu.
Etymon: Urdu zambūrak.
< Urdu zambūrak, < Persian zambūr hornet. Compare Persian zemberek crossbow…
< Urdu zambūrak, < Persian zambūr hornet. Compare Persian zemberek crossbow.

### Notes

New English Dictionary (OED first edition) (1921) enters this under the headword zumbooruk and gives the pronunciation as (zɒ·mburɒk) /ˈzʌmbʊrʌk/ .

## Meaning & use

1. 1825–
   A small swivel-gun, esp. one mounted on the back of a camel.
   1. 1825

      > One or two shots from Zumboorucks dropping among them.

      J. B. Fraser, Journ. Khorasan 198
   2. 1863

      > East Indian jezails and zumbaraks.

      R. F. Burton, Abeokuta vol. I. 75
   3. 1904

      > Rakish swivel-guns, bell-mouthed zumbooraks.

      Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine July 87/1
   gunnery and firearms
   1. swivel-gun 1712–
      A gun or cannon, usually a small one, mounted on a swivel (swivel, n. 1b) so as to turn horizontally in any required direction.
   2. swivel 1748–
      Short for swivel-gun, n.
   3. wall-piece 1755–
      Military. (See quot. 1876.)
   4. jingal 1761–
      A heavy firearm or field gun with a long barrel, suitable for firing with the barrel resting on a person's shoulder or mounted on a swivel, either…
   5. zamburak 1825–
      A small swivel-gun, esp. one mounted on the back of a camel.
   6. pivot gun 1831–
      A gun which turns freely on a pivot to point in any direction.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzambʊrʌk/

####

##### 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.

### Notes

New English Dictionary (OED first edition) (1921) enters this under the headword zumbooruk and gives the pronunciation as (zɒ·mburɒk) /ˈzʌmbʊrʌk/ .

## Forms

### Variant forms

Also zumbooruck, zumbooruk, zumboorak, zumbarak, zomboru(c)k, zamboorak, zamborouk, zambúrak.

## Frequency

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

zamburak 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 zamburak, n., 1820–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1820 | 0.0036
1830 | 0.0035
1840 | 0.0032
1850 | 0.0029
1860 | 0.002
1870 | 0.0021
1880 | 0.0019
1890 | 0.0009
1900 | 0.0005
1910 | 0.0002
1920 | 0.0001
1930 | 0.0001
1940 | 0.0001
1950 | 0.0001
1960 | 0.0001
1970 | 0.0001
1980 | 0.0001
1990 | 0.0001
2000 | 0.0002
2010 | 0.0002

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

zamburak, n. was last modified in December 2024.