zebra shark, n.

zebra-shark
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zebra-shark_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zebra sharknoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zebra shark mean?

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

### How common is the noun zebra shark?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1800 | 0.0003
1810 | 0.0004
1820 | 0.0004
1830 | 0.0004
1840 | 0.0002
1850 | 0.0003
1860 | 0.0003
1870 | 0.0003
1880 | 0.0001
1890 | 0.0001
1900 | 0.0001
1910 | 0.0001
1920 | 0.00005
1930 | 0.00008
1940 | 0.00008
1950 | 0.0002
1960 | 0.0005
1970 | 0.0008
1980 | 0.0012
1990 | 0.0014
2000 | 0.0017
2010 | 0.002

### Where does the noun zebra shark come from?

Earliest known use

1800s

The earliest known use of the noun zebra shark is in the 1800s.

OED's earliest evidence for zebra shark is from 1804, in the writing of George Shaw, natural historian.

### Nearby entries

1. zebra mussel, n. 1866–
2. zebrano, n. 1908–
3. zebra opossum, n. 1808–
4. zebra parakeet, n. 1856–
5. zebra plant, n. 1826–
6. zebra poison, n. 1871–74
7. zebra print, n. & adj. 1932–
8. zebra rhomb, n. 1770–1844
9. zebra rock, n. 1895–
10. zebra rush, n. 1882–
11. zebra shark, n.1804–
12. zebra skin, n. 1774–
13. zebra spider, n. 1806–
14. zebra suit, n. 1853–
15. zebra swallowtail, n. 1855–
16. zebra wolf, n. 1808–
17. zebrawood, n. 1768–
18. zebra woodpecker, n. 1884–
19. zebrina, n. 1846–
20. zebrine, adj. a1810–
21. zebroid, adj. & n. 1881–

## Meaning & use

1. 1804–
   A small carpet shark of the Indo-Pacific, Stegostoma fasciatum (family Stegostomatidae), the adult of which has a pale body with numerous small dark spots.
   Named from the juvenile, which has a dark body with pale vertical stripes and was formerly thought to be a different species.
   1. 1804

      > Zebra Shark... Squalus tigrinus... Of a dark brown colour,..barred with..milk-white,..somewhat undulating stripes.

      G. Shaw, General Zoology vol. V. 352
   2. 1911

      > Among several allied genera is the zebra-shark (Stegostoma tigrinum) of the Indian Ocean.

      Harmsworth Natural History 1689/1
   3. 2016

      > There were eight zebra sharks born last year and we had six of them so it was a great achievement.

      Hull Daily Mail (Nexis) 4 April 39
   fish
   1. nurse 1499–
      Any of various dogfishes or sharks; (now) esp. (more fully grey nurse) the Australian shark Odontaspis arenarius (family Odontaspididae) of shallow…
   2. nurse-fish 1682–1873
      = nurse, n.²
   3. zebra shark 1804–
      A small carpet shark of the Indo-Pacific, Stegostoma fasciatum (family Stegostomatidae), the adult of which has a pale body with numerous small dark…
   4. nurse shark 1851–
      A broad-headed brownish shark, Ginglymostoma cirratum (family Orectolobidae), of warm, mainly Atlantic waters, with barbels on the snout (more fully…
   5. wobbegong 1852–
      Any of various slow-moving, bottom-dwelling sharks of the family Orectolobidae, esp. of the genus Orectolobus, having a broad flattened body…
   6. sleeper 1884–
      Zoology. As the name of various fishes (see quots.). Also attributive.
   7. carpet shark 1929–
      A shark of the genus Orectolobus having spots on the back suggesting the pattern of a carpet.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

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

zebra shark 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 zebra shark, n., 1800–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1800 | 0.0003
1810 | 0.0004
1820 | 0.0004
1830 | 0.0004
1840 | 0.0002
1850 | 0.0003
1860 | 0.0003
1870 | 0.0003
1880 | 0.0001
1890 | 0.0001
1900 | 0.0001
1910 | 0.0001
1920 | 0.00005
1930 | 0.00008
1940 | 0.00008
1950 | 0.0002
1960 | 0.0005
1970 | 0.0008
1980 | 0.0012
1990 | 0.0014
2000 | 0.0017
2010 | 0.002

Originally published as part of the entry for zebra, n.

zebra, n. was revised in June 2018.