zookeeper, n.

zookeeper
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zookeeper_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2017

# zookeepernoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zookeeper mean?

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

### How common is the noun zookeeper?

About 0.06occurrences per million words in modern written English

1910 | 0.0029
1920 | 0.0055
1930 | 0.0079
1940 | 0.012
1950 | 0.02
1960 | 0.03
1970 | 0.043
1980 | 0.055
1990 | 0.061
2000 | 0.07
2010 | 0.078

### Where does the noun zookeeper come from?

Earliest known use

1880s

The earliest known use of the noun zookeeper is in the 1880s.

OED's earliest evidence for zookeeper is from 1886, in Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago).

### Nearby entries

1. zoographic, adj. 1741–
2. zoographical, adj. 1651–
3. zoographically, adv. 1835–
4. zoographist, n. 1749–1874
5. zoography, n. 1593–
6. zoogyroscope, n. 1880–
7. zooid, n. 1851–
8. zooid, adj. 1849
9. zooidal, adj. 1858–
10. zooidogamous, adj. 1891–
11. zookeeper, n.1886–
12. zookeeping, n. 1929–
13. Zookers, int. 1620–
14. Zooks, int. 1600–
15. zoolater, n. 1876–
16. zoolatrous, adj. 1876–
17. zoolatry, n. 1784–
18. zoolite, n. 1768–
19. zoologer, n. 1663–
20. zoologic, adj. 1766–
21. zoological, adj. & n. 1686–

## Meaning & use

1. 1886–
   A person responsible for taking care of the animals in a zoo; (sometimes also) the owner, director, or person in overall charge of a zoo.
   1. 1886

      > It could be nursed and fed on warm milk..if Zoo keepers will have an eye to it.

      Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago) 3 November 2
   2. 1910

      > Zoo is getting too crowded with all kinds of animals and I don't need so many dongola goats. I will sell you two for fifty dollars..Dennis Toole, Zoo keeper.

      E. P. Butler, Water Goats & Other Troubles 19
   3. 1977

      > Zookeepers caring for a two-week-old orphaned hippopotamus have taken to..wading into a pool..to nurse the hippo from a bottle.

      Monitor (McAllen, Texas) 17 July 2f/4
   4. 1991

      > The eccentric British millionaire zoo-keeper and former casino owner.

      Sunday Times (Nexis) 2 June (Overseas news section)
   5. 2009

      > Zookeepers have helped hatch the eggs of one of the world's rarest species of turtle.

      Daily Telegraph 7 August 11/8
   1. menagerist 1850–
      A keeper of a menagerie.
   2. zooman 1871–
      A person (esp. a man) who works in, manages, or is associated with a zoo; a male zookeeper; an animal handler.
   3. zookeeper 1886–
      A person responsible for taking care of the animals in a zoo; (sometimes also) the owner, director, or person in overall charge of a zoo.
   4. zoowoman 1930–
      A woman who works in, manages, or is associated with a zoo; a female zookeeper or animal handler.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zookeeper typically occurs about 0.06 times per million words in modern written English.

zookeeper is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 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 zookeeper, n., 1910–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1910 | 0.0029
1920 | 0.0055
1930 | 0.0079
1940 | 0.012
1950 | 0.02
1960 | 0.03
1970 | 0.043
1980 | 0.055
1990 | 0.061
2000 | 0.07
2010 | 0.078

### Frequency of zookeeper, n., 2017–2024

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Modern frequency series are derived from a corpus of 20 billion words, covering the period from 2017 to the present. The corpus is mainly compiled from online news sources, and covers all major varieties of World English.

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 corpus.

Period | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
2017 | 0.36
2018 | 0.4
2019 | 0.4
2020 | 0.37
2021 | 0.36
2022 | 0.36
2023 | 0.33
2024 | 0.3

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

zoo, n. was revised in June 2017.