zoicadjective
Factsheet
What does the adjective zoic mean?
There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the adjective zoic. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.
zoic has developed meanings and uses in subjects including
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 adjective zoic?
| 1860 | 0.013 |
| 1870 | 0.015 |
| 1880 | 0.015 |
| 1890 | 0.015 |
| 1900 | 0.015 |
| 1910 | 0.014 |
| 1920 | 0.015 |
| 1930 | 0.015 |
| 1940 | 0.013 |
| 1950 | 0.012 |
| 1960 | 0.011 |
| 1970 | 0.011 |
| 1980 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 0.0092 |
| 2000 | 0.008 |
| 2010 | 0.0071 |
How is the adjective zoic pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the adjective zoic come from?
Earliest known use
1860s
The earliest known use of the adjective zoic is in the 1860s.
OED's earliest evidence for zoic is from 1863, in the writing of James Dana, geologist, zoologist, and teacher.
zoic is a borrowing from Greek.
Etymons: Greek ζωικός.
Nearby entries
- zodiac line, n.1590
- zodiac ring, n.1895–
- zodiographer, n.1650
- zoea, n.1828–
- zoeal, adj.?1870–
- zoetrope, n.1866–
- zographer, n.1570
- zography, n.1570
- zograscope, n.1753–
- Zohar, n.1682–
- zoic, adj.1863–
- -zoic, comb. form¹
- -zoic, comb. form²
- zoid, n.1856–
- zoid, adj.1864–
- zoidiophilous, adj.1872–
- zoidogamous, adj.1899–
- Zoilean, adj.1846–
- Zoilism, n.1609–
- Zoilist, n.1594–
- Zoilitical, adj.1665
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1.1863–Showing traces of life; in Geology, containing organic remains.
- 1863
If, therefore, these simple species existed in the Azoic era, they were systemless life, and only foreshadowed the great systems of life which were afterwards displayed..in the true Zoic ages.
J. D. Dana, Manual of Geology iii. 597 - 1885–6
These great Pre-Cambrian and Post-Archæan series are zoic in character.
Rep. U.S. Geol. Surv. (1888) 453
- 2.1898–Of the nature of an animal; animal.
- 1898
The Seri face-painting would seem to be essentially zoosematic, or symbolic of zoic tutelaries.
W. J. McGee in 17th Annual Rep. Bureau Amer. Ethnol. 1895–6 169* - 1900
The use of zoic motives in the decoration of primitive weapons.
Annual Reports Smithsonian Inst. 63
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
zoic typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zoic 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 of zoic, adj., 1860–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1860 | 0.013 |
| 1870 | 0.015 |
| 1880 | 0.015 |
| 1890 | 0.015 |
| 1900 | 0.015 |
| 1910 | 0.014 |
| 1920 | 0.015 |
| 1930 | 0.015 |
| 1940 | 0.013 |
| 1950 | 0.012 |
| 1960 | 0.011 |
| 1970 | 0.011 |
| 1980 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 0.0092 |
| 2000 | 0.008 |
| 2010 | 0.0071 |