zoophytical, adj.

zoophytical
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoophytical_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2017

# zoophyticaladjective

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective zoophytical mean?

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

### How common is the adjective zoophytical?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1800 | 0.0024
1810 | 0.0023
1820 | 0.0022
1830 | 0.0019
1840 | 0.0017
1850 | 0.0015
1860 | 0.0011
1870 | 0.0005
1880 | 0.0002
1890 | 0.00005
1900 | 0
1910 | 0
1920 | 0
1930 | 0
1940 | 0
1950 | 0.000007
1960 | 0.00001
1970 | 0.00001
1980 | 0.00001
1990 | 0.00001
2000 | 0.00001
2010 | 0.00002

### Where does the adjective zoophytical come from?

Earliest known use

late 1700s

The earliest known use of the adjective zoophytical is in the late 1700s.

OED's earliest evidence for zoophytical is from 1779, in the writing of Joseph Berington, Roman Catholic priest and religious controversialist.

### Nearby entries

1. zoophilite, n. 1879–
2. zoophilous, adj. 1881–
3. zoophily, n. 1830–
4. zoophobia, n. 1888–
5. zoophysical, adj. 1820–
6. zoophysics, n. 1887–
7. zoophysiology, n. 1803–
8. zoophytal, adj. 1756–
9. zoophyte, n. 1606–
10. zoophytic, adj. 1808–
11. zoophytical, adj.1779–
12. zoophytish, adj. 1854–80
13. zoophytist, n. 1814–62
14. zoophytography, n. 1735–1905
15. zoophytoid, adj. 1854–83
16. zoophytological, adj. 1823–
17. zoophytologist, n. 1835–
18. zoophytology, n. 1815–
19. zoophyton, n. 1601–
20. zooplankter, n. 1935–
21. zooplanktivore, n. 1972–

## Meaning & use

Biology. Now historical.

1. 1779–
   Characteristic of or resembling a zoophyte; relating to zoophytes.
   Stressed as zooˈphytical.
   1. 1779

      > The motion of the sensitive plant, or the orbicular whirling observed in some of the zoophytical race.

      J. Berington, Immaterialism Delineated 149
   2. 1850

      > Many of the zoophytical and molluscous orders..are also employed in devouring and affording food to various other animals.

      H. T. Cheever, Whale & his Captors iv. 72
   3. 2009

      > In reproducing by division, polypi manifest their vegetal nature—but in their instinct for self-preservation, they are like animals. Anything with such a double nature is ‘zoophytical’.

      Victorian Poetry vol. 47 10
   invertebrates historical
   1. plant-living 1594
      That has characteristics of both an animal and a plant; = zoophytic, adj.
   2. zoophytal 1756–
      Of or relating to a zoophyte or zoophytes; (also) produced by zoophytes.
   3. zoophytical 1779–
      Characteristic of or resembling a zoophyte; relating to zoophytes.
   4. zoophytic 1808–
      Of or relating to a zoophyte or zoophytes. Also: produced by zoophytes.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

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

zoophytical 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 zoophytical, adj., 1800–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1800 | 0.0024
1810 | 0.0023
1820 | 0.0022
1830 | 0.0019
1840 | 0.0017
1850 | 0.0015
1860 | 0.0011
1870 | 0.0005
1880 | 0.0002
1890 | 0.00005
1900 | 0
1910 | 0
1920 | 0
1930 | 0
1940 | 0
1950 | 0.000007
1960 | 0.00001
1970 | 0.00001
1980 | 0.00001
1990 | 0.00001
2000 | 0.00001
2010 | 0.00002

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

zoophyte, n. was revised in June 2017.