<zoo-comb. form + ‑nomycomb. form.In sense 1 after GermanZoonomie (1795) and its model post-classical Latinzoonomia (E. Darwin Zoonomia, or the Laws of Organic Life (1794)…
<zoo-comb. form + ‑nomycomb. form.In sense 1 after GermanZoonomie (1795) and its model post-classical Latinzoonomia (E. Darwin Zoonomia, or the Laws of Organic Life (1794)).
Notes
Compare Frenchzoonomie (1800 or earlier).
Meaning & use
Now historical and rare.
1.
1800–
The branch of science concerned with the laws or principles of animal life, variously interpreted as covering the internal anatomy, physiology, or growth and development of animals (sometimes contrasted with purely descriptive zoology); animal physiology.
1800
The principal objects of Zoonomy, considered as a physical science, are consequently, the rules and laws of animal nature.
Medical & Physical Journalvol. 3 281
1811
Whatever relates to the origin of species..belongs to problems in zoonomy.
J. Black, translation of A. von Humboldt, Political Essay New Spainvol. III. 66
1841
Under the head of Zoonomy..we would treat of the general structure and functions of animals.
R. Park, Pantologyxi. i. 377
1869
One of the many works which are appearing nowadays designed to reconcile the teachings of zoonomy and geology with the Bible.
New York Herald 6 December 5/6
1901
It is really a great practical school of zoönomy and agriculture.
W. Walton, Paris Known & Unknown 300/2
1957
Zoonomy, the laws dealing with animal life.
I. F. Henderson & W. D. Henderson, Dictionary Sci. Terms (ed. 6) 529/2
1977
If geology could not be reduced to chemistry, far less could zoonomy submit to such reduction.
The theory that the mental powers or characteristics of an individual consist of separate faculties, each of which has its location in an organ found in a definite region of the surface of the brain; = phrenologyn. 2.
1815
Sketch of the New Anatomy and Physiology of the Brain and Nervous System of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim, considered as comprehending a complete system of Zoonomy.
T. Forster(title)
1887
The pursuits of palmistry, chiromancy, craniology, zoonomy, and esoteric physiology are never likely to lack adherents and disciples.
Standard 7 January 5/3
1914
The system..which he called ‘Zoonomy’ is rich in suggestion, and..may contain more truths than is generally supposed.
J. T. McIntyre, Ashton-Kirk Special Detective vi. 96
1974
Known also as ‘cranioscopy’, ‘craniology’, and ‘zoonomy’, phrenology was the creation of a Viennese physician, Franz Joseph Gall.
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.
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.
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.
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
zoonomy typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zoonomy 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 data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.
Frequency of zoonomy, n., 1810–2010
* 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.