zookeeping, n.

zookeeping
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zookeeping_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 2017

# zookeepingnoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zookeeping mean?

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

### How common is the noun zookeeping?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1960 | 0.0011
1970 | 0.0013
1980 | 0.0015
1990 | 0.0015
2000 | 0.0017
2010 | 0.002

### Where does the noun zookeeping come from?

Earliest known use

1920s

The earliest known use of the noun zookeeping is in the 1920s.

OED's earliest evidence for zookeeping is from 1929, in the Catholic World.

### Nearby entries

1. zoographical, adj. 1651–
2. zoographically, adv. 1835–
3. zoographist, n. 1749–1874
4. zoography, n. 1593–
5. zoogyroscope, n. 1880–
6. zooid, n. 1851–
7. zooid, adj. 1849
8. zooidal, adj. 1858–
9. zooidogamous, adj. 1891–
10. zookeeper, n. 1886–
11. zookeeping, n.1929–
12. Zookers, int. 1620–
13. Zooks, int. 1600–
14. zoolater, n. 1876–
15. zoolatrous, adj. 1876–
16. zoolatry, n. 1784–
17. zoolite, n. 1768–
18. zoologer, n. 1663–
19. zoologic, adj. 1766–
20. zoological, adj. & n. 1686–
21. zoological garden, n. 1827–

## Meaning & use

1. 1929–
   The management of a zoo; the work of a zookeeper.
   1. 1929

      > The speaker..excoriated the keepers and directors of the animal exhibit as mere..ex-saloon keepers whose knowledge of Zoo-keeping stopped with their mastery of the art of drawing salaries.

      Catholic World January 438/1
   2. 1993

      > Bostock's book is an unusual combination of zookeeping and philosophy which seeks to address what he terms the ‘special challenge to zoos’: the right to freedom for animals.

      New Scientist 16 October 44/1
   3. 2001

      > Getting animals used to the presence of humans is at the heart of the art and science of zookeeping.

      Y. Martel, Life of Pi (2002) ix. 39

## Frequency

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

zookeeping 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 zookeeping, n., 1960–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1960 | 0.0011
1970 | 0.0013
1980 | 0.0015
1990 | 0.0015
2000 | 0.0017
2010 | 0.002

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

zookeeping, n. was first published in 2017.