zizzingnoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zizzing mean?
There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun zizzing. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun zizzing?
| 1890 | 0.0005 |
| 1900 | 0.0004 |
| 1910 | 0.0005 |
| 1920 | 0.0005 |
| 1930 | 0.0006 |
| 1940 | 0.0006 |
| 1950 | 0.0006 |
| 1960 | 0.0005 |
| 1970 | 0.0006 |
| 1980 | 0.0006 |
| 1990 | 0.0006 |
| 2000 | 0.0006 |
| 2010 | 0.0007 |
How is the noun zizzing pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun zizzing come from?
Earliest known use
1880s
The earliest known use of the noun zizzing is in the 1880s.
OED's earliest evidence for zizzing is from 1884, in Atlanta (Georgia) Constitution.
zizzing is formed within English, by derivation.
Etymons: zizz v., ‑ing suffix1.
Nearby entries
- ziti, n.1845–
- zitty, adj.1971–
- Ziv, n.a1382–
- zizania, n.1526–
- zizany, n.a1400–1803
- zizel, n.1775–
- zizypha, n.1546–1775
- zizyphus, n.?1440–
- zizz, v.1883–
- zizz, int. & n.1824–
- zizzing, n.1884–
- zizzing, adj.1919–
- zizzy, adj.1843–
- Zlid, n.1616–1785
- Z'life, n.1689
- Z line, n.1916–
- Z-list, n. & adj.1979–
- Z-lister, n.1999–
- zloty, n.1915–
- Zn, n.1814–
- -zoa, comb. form
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1.1884–A buzzing or whizzing sound; movement or activity accompanied by such a sound. Also figurative.
- 1884
But the zizzing soon settled down, and when the popular champagne was placed to the lips of the plumed knight again, it was found to be stale and flat.
Atlanta (Georgia) Constitution 17 July 1/1 - 1951
The flies on the window-pane woke up and started to rage together with a venomous zizzing.
J. Strachey, Man on Pier 37 - 2001
The zizzing of sewing ceased as 100 workers herded toward a cabinet to retrieve lunch sacks.
Daily News (New York) (Nexis) 8 July 6
the world physical sensation hearing and noise degree, kind, or quality of sound continuous or protracted sound sibilant sound [nouns] buzz- buzzing1495–A sibilant humming.
- beminga1522Trumpeting; transferred noisy buzzing.
- fuzzing1676
- bumble1834–A buzzing or humming noise. Cf. bumbling, n.¹
- Z-ing1852–Used (usually repeated) to represent a buzzing sound; also conventionally representing the sound of snoring. Hence Z-ing n., and as v. intransitive…
- zizz1860–A buzzing or whizzing sound, such as that made by the rapid motion of a wheel; (also) a movement accompanied by such a sound.
- zizzing1884–A buzzing or whizzing sound; movement or activity accompanied by such a sound. Also figurative.
- zinging1921–A sharp, high-pitched ringing, buzzing, or whining sound.
- tizziness1976–
- 2.1942–
- 1942
Sleeping is ‘zizzing’ whether it's on the job or in the hammock.
Gen 1 September 13/1 - 1987
You can also..fit in a fair amount of staring out the window thinking about nothing in particular, zizzing, and, at peak rush-hour periods, unarmed combat.
Punch 11 March 70/2
the world physical sensation sleeping and waking sleep [nouns] action, fact, or state of sleeping or falling asleep for a short time or lightly- nappingOld English–The action of taking a nap; sleeping; (formerly also) †drowsiness (obsolete). Also figurative.
- dozing1692–The action of sleeping drowsily.
- snoozing1811–The fact of dozing or sleeping. Also attributive.
- catnapping1845–The habit or practice of taking brief naps. Cf. catnap, n.
- winking1862The taking of ‘forty winks’.
- zizzing1942–colloquial (chiefly British). The action of having a short sleep or nap; sleeping. Cf. zizz, v. 2.
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
zizzing typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zizzing 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 zizzing, n., 1890–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1890 | 0.0005 |
| 1900 | 0.0004 |
| 1910 | 0.0005 |
| 1920 | 0.0005 |
| 1930 | 0.0006 |
| 1940 | 0.0006 |
| 1950 | 0.0006 |
| 1960 | 0.0005 |
| 1970 | 0.0006 |
| 1980 | 0.0006 |
| 1990 | 0.0006 |
| 2000 | 0.0006 |
| 2010 | 0.0007 |