zorro, n.

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

# zorronoun

## Earlier version

- zorro in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zorro mean?

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

About 0.02occurrences per million words in modern written English

1830 | 0.0001
1840 | 0.0002
1850 | 0.0003
1860 | 0.0004
1870 | 0.0005
1880 | 0.0006
1890 | 0.0012
1900 | 0.0015
1910 | 0.0021
1920 | 0.0027
1930 | 0.0034
1940 | 0.0044
1950 | 0.0061
1960 | 0.0091
1970 | 0.012
1980 | 0.015
1990 | 0.017
2000 | 0.019
2010 | 0.021

### How is the noun zorro pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈθɒrəʊ/
/ˈzɒrəʊ/
ZORR-oh

### Where does the noun zorro come from?

Earliest known use

1830s

The earliest known use of the noun zorro is in the 1830s.

OED's only evidence for zorro is from 1838, in a translation by W. P. Hunter.

zorro is a borrowing from Spanish.

### Nearby entries

1. zorbing, n. 1996–
2. zorgite, n. 1852–
3. zori, n.?1823–
4. zoril, n. 1774–
5. Zoroastrian, adj. & n. 1597–
6. Zoroastrianism, n. 1832–
7. Zoroastrianize, v. 1891–
8. Zoroastric, adj. a1739–
9. Zoroastrism, n. 1819–
10. zorrino, n. 1885–
11. zorro, n.1838–
12. zos-grass, n. 1937–
13. zoster, n. 1601–
14. zostera, n. 1819–
15. zosterops, n. 1867–
16. Zouave, n. 1848–
17. zouk, n. 1986–
18. zounds, v. 1680
19. zounds, int. a1593–
20. Zou-Zou, n. 1860–
21. zowie, int. 1902–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Spanish.
Spanish, = fox.

## Meaning & use

1. 1838–
   The South American fox-wolf.
   1. 1838

      > As to habits they vary considerably in my zorros.

      W. P. Hunter, translation of F. de Azara, Natural History of Quadrupeds of Paraguay vol. I. 290
   animals
   1. bush dog 1764–
      A small wild dog native to Central and South America, Speothos venaticus, having reddish brown fur, short stocky legs, a short bushy tail, and…
   2. red wolf 1823–
      a. The maned wolf, Chrysocyon brachyurus (now rare); b. a small wolf with a cinnamon or tawny-coloured coat, often referred to Canis rufus but…
   3. Antarctic wolf 1827–
      The extinct Falkland Islands wolf, Dusicyon australis.
   4. hill-fox 1838–
      An Indian species of fox inhabiting the hills (Canis Himalaicus).
   5. kuri 1838–
      A dog of Polynesian origin which was first introduced to New Zealand by the Māori and became extinct as a pure breed during the 19th century. Also…
   6. zorro 1838–
      The South American fox-wolf.
   7. Falkland Island wolf 1857–
      An extinct wolf-like dog, Dusicyon australis, which was endemic to the Falkland Islands (where it was the only native land mammal) but was…
   8. guara 1884–
      A large-maned wild dog of South America, Canis jubatus.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈθɒrəʊ/
/ˈzɒrəʊ/
ZORR-oh

####

##### 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.

####

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

## Frequency

zorro typically occurs about 0.02 times per million words in modern written English.

zorro 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 data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zorro, n., 1830–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1830 | 0.0001
1840 | 0.0002
1850 | 0.0003
1860 | 0.0004
1870 | 0.0005
1880 | 0.0006
1890 | 0.0012
1900 | 0.0015
1910 | 0.0021
1920 | 0.0027
1930 | 0.0034
1940 | 0.0044
1950 | 0.0061
1960 | 0.0091
1970 | 0.012
1980 | 0.015
1990 | 0.017
2000 | 0.019
2010 | 0.021

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

zorro, n. was last modified in December 2024.