zaitech, n.

zaitech
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zaitech_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1997; not fully revised

# zaitechnoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zaitech mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zaitech. 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 zaitech?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1980 | 0.0027
1990 | 0.0027
2000 | 0.0027
2010 | 0.0027

### How is the noun zaitech pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzʌɪtɛk/

### Where does the noun zaitech come from?

Earliest known use

1980s

The earliest known use of the noun zaitech is in the 1980s.

OED's earliest evidence for zaitech is from 1986, in the Economist.

zaitech is a borrowing from Japanese.

Etymons: Japanese zaiteku.

### Nearby entries

1. zaguan, n. 1851–
2. Zahal, n. 1959–
3. zaibatsu, n. 1937–
4. Zaidi, n. 1709–
5. zaikai, n. 1968–
6. zaim, n. 1807–
7. zaire, n. 1967–
8. Zairean, n. & adj. 1972–
9. Zairese, adj. & n. 1974–
10. Zairois, n. & adj. 1973–
11. zaitech, n.1986–
12. zakat, n. 1668–
13. Zakka Khel, n. 1860–
14. zakuska, n. 1885–
15. zalambdodont, adj. 1885–
16. zalcitabine, n. 1991–
17. zamacueca, n. 1855–
18. Zamak, n. 1926–
19. zamang, n. 1819–
20. zamarra, n. 1841–
21. zama zama, n. 2006–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Japanese.
Etymon: Japanese zaiteku.
< Japanese zaiteku, < zai wealth + teku partial translation of English tech n.4

## Meaning & use

Commerce.

1. 1986–
   Investment in financial markets by a company as a means of supplementing the earnings which it receives from its principal operations.
   1. 1986

      > The Euromarkets have already drawn Japan's banks and securities houses to London. Now the country's companies are arriving—for the Zaiteku.

      Economist 28 June 86/3
   2. 1986

      > Everyone seems to be trying his hand at deftly juggling securities using ‘zaitech’, or financial engineering.

      Washington Post 26 October d2/2
   3. 1988

      > The word zaitek is an amalgam of Japanese and foreign elements.

      A. Viner, Emerging Power Japanese Money v. 155
   4. 1989

      > Big enterprises in banking, transportation, and commerce have maintained extremely labor-intensive services, besides services outstanding in the use of limited numbers of personnel extremely qualified in innovative methods of Zaitech as well as of modern electronic communication systems.

      M. & H. Schmiegelow, Strategic Pragmatism iv. 110
   5. 1992

      > About 70 percent of the $135 billion went for zaitech, Japanese slang for financial engineering.

      Playboy November 166/3
   finance
   1. gnome 1964–
      colloquial. An international financier or banker, spec. one who is Swiss; esp. in the gnomes of Zurich.
   2. Zurich gnome 1970–
      See gnome, n.² 1c.
   3. zaitech 1986–
      Investment in financial markets by a company as a means of supplementing the earnings which it receives from its principal operations.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzʌɪtɛk/

####

##### 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 /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.

View the pronunciation model here.

## Forms

### Variant forms

Also zaitek, zaiteku /zaiteku/ .

## Frequency

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

zaitech 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 zaitech, n., 1980–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1980 | 0.0027
1990 | 0.0027
2000 | 0.0027
2010 | 0.0027

zaitech, n. was first published in 1997; not fully revised.

zaitech, n. was last modified in December 2024.