ziraleetnoun
Factsheet
What does the noun ziraleet mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun ziraleet. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun ziraleet?
| 1790 | 0.0041 |
| 1800 | 0.0033 |
| 1810 | 0.0028 |
| 1820 | 0.0026 |
| 1830 | 0.0007 |
| 1840 | 0.0008 |
| 1850 | 0.0007 |
| 1860 | 0.0005 |
| 1870 | 0.0005 |
| 1880 | 0.0004 |
| 1890 | 0.0002 |
| 1900 | 0.0002 |
| 1910 | 0.0001 |
| 1920 | 0.00004 |
| 1930 | 0.00003 |
| 1940 | 0.00004 |
| 1950 | 0.00002 |
| 1960 | 0.00003 |
| 1970 | 0.00004 |
| 1980 | 0.00006 |
| 1990 | 0.00007 |
| 2000 | 0.00007 |
| 2010 | 0.00006 |
How is the noun ziraleet pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun ziraleet come from?
Earliest known use
late 1700s
The earliest known use of the noun ziraleet is in the late 1700s.
OED's earliest evidence for ziraleet is from 1794, in the writing of P. Russell.
ziraleet is a borrowing from Arabic.
Etymons: Arabic zaġālīṭ, zaġlīṭa.
Nearby entries
- Zippo, n.¹1944–
- zippo, n.²1973–
- zippy, adj.1889–
- zip tie, n.1969–
- zip-tie, v.1985–
- zip top, n.1926–
- zip-up, adj. & n.1927–
- zip wire, n.1971–
- zir, pron.1993–
- zir, adj.1993–
- ziraleet, n.1794–
- ziram, n.1950–
- zirbal, adj.?a1425–
- zirbus, n.a1400–
- zircaloy, n.1953–
- zircon, n.1794–
- zirconate, n.1820–
- zircon blue, n. & adj.1928–
- zircon earth, n.1794–
- zirconia, n.1794–
- zirconian, adj.1802–
Etymology
Summary
Notes
Meaning & use
- 1794–Chiefly with reference to Muslim countries: a trilling, joyful chant sung by a woman or group of women. Also in extended use.
- 1794
Certain appropriate stanzas, by way of epithalamium, are chanted by women hired on purpose, or by slaves, and the ziraleet serves as a general chorus.
P. Russell, A. Russell's Natural History Aleppo (ed. 2) vol. I. ii. vi. 286 - 1817
And light your shrines and chaunt your ziraleets.
T. Moore, Lalla Rookh 95 - 1833
A chorus of young girls sung the ziraleet as she passed.
Token & Atlantic Souvenir 115 - 1856
Like the music-blessing Of lark's ziraleet.
Excelsior vol. 6 213 - 1994
‘I've never done this before,’ she said (emitting splashy ziraleets).
T. Fischer, Thought Gang (1997) 152
the mind emotion pleasure joy, gladness, or delight rejoicing or exultation [nouns] jubilation or loud rejoicing song or shout of jubilation specific- Nowellc1395–A word shouted or sung: expressing joy, originally to commemorate the birth of Christ. Now only as retained in Christmas carols (cf. noel, n.).
- harvest home1648–A shout or song of rejoicing on that occasion.
- ziraleet1794–Chiefly with reference to Muslim countries: a trilling, joyful chant sung by a woman or group of women. Also in extended use.
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
Frequency
ziraleet typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
ziraleet 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 of ziraleet, n., 1790–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1790 | 0.0041 |
| 1800 | 0.0033 |
| 1810 | 0.0028 |
| 1820 | 0.0026 |
| 1830 | 0.0007 |
| 1840 | 0.0008 |
| 1850 | 0.0007 |
| 1860 | 0.0005 |
| 1870 | 0.0005 |
| 1880 | 0.0004 |
| 1890 | 0.0002 |
| 1900 | 0.0002 |
| 1910 | 0.0001 |
| 1920 | 0.00004 |
| 1930 | 0.00003 |
| 1940 | 0.00004 |
| 1950 | 0.00002 |
| 1960 | 0.00003 |
| 1970 | 0.00004 |
| 1980 | 0.00006 |
| 1990 | 0.00007 |
| 2000 | 0.00007 |
| 2010 | 0.00006 |