zappingnoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zapping mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zapping. 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 zapping?
| 1970 | 0.0055 |
| 1980 | 0.0059 |
| 1990 | 0.0059 |
| 2000 | 0.0059 |
| 2010 | 0.007 |
How is the noun zapping pronounced?
British English
Where does the noun zapping come from?
Earliest known use
1970s
The earliest known use of the noun zapping is in the 1970s.
OED's earliest evidence for zapping is from 1972, in Daily Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia).
zapping is formed within English, by derivation.
Etymons: zap v., ‑ing suffix1.
Nearby entries
- zapateado, n.1845–
- Zapatism, n.1911–
- Zapatismo, n.1913–
- Zapatist, n. & adj.1911–
- Zapatista, n. & adj.1911–
- zapote, n.1842–
- Zapotec, n. & adj.1797–
- zappe, v.c1600
- zapped, adj.1962–
- zapper, n.1969–
- zapping, n.1972–
- zappy, adj.1969–
- zaptieh, n.1869–
- ZAPU, n.1961–
- Zar, n.1868–
- Zarathustrian, adj. & n.1859–
- Zarathustrianism, n.1864–
- Zarathustric, adj.1848–
- Zarathustrism, n.1871–
- zaratite, n.1858–
- zarcole, n.1585–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1972–The action of zap v.; spec. the practice of skipping advertisements when watching television programmes.
- 1972
I wouldn't take the zapping he has taken, to use the contemporary word, for a million dollars.
Daily Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia) 8 January 17/7 - 1983
The practice is known in the US as ‘zapping’. Apparently people who have remote control devices are substantially more likely..to switch over to another channel when ads come on.
Times 27 October 8/3 - 1983
You could add suitable sound-effects to an applications program—zapping noises as a word processor deletes characters, maybe?
Australian Personal Computer November 32/2 - 1984
For the ITV companies there is the additional problem of ‘zapping’ to contend with—the habitual use of the fast-forward button to bypass the commercial breaks in recorded material.
Listener 9 February 14/2
the mind operation of the mind expectation feeling of wonder, astonishment quality of inspiring wonder [nouns] act of causing wonder- amazing1530–The action of causing amazement.
- mazing1583–1600The action of exciting amazement or astonishment; an instance of this. Also: the state of being astonished. Obsolete.
- overwhelm1596–The action of overwhelming; the fact or state of being overwhelmed; an instance of this.
- stun1727–The act of stunning or dazing; a stunning effect; the condition of being stunned.
- zapping1972–The action of zap, v.; spec. the practice of skipping advertisements when watching television programmes.
- zapping1972–The action of zap, v.; spec. the practice of skipping advertisements when watching television programmes.
Pronunciation
British 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.
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
zapping typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zapping 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 of zapping, n., 1970–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1970 | 0.0055 |
| 1980 | 0.0059 |
| 1990 | 0.0059 |
| 2000 | 0.0059 |
| 2010 | 0.007 |