<Zealand (also Sealand, (now rare) Zeeland; DanishSjælland, †Seeland, Old DanishSiæland, Sieland, etc.), the name of the largest island (excluding Greenland) in Denmark (< a first element of…
<Zealand (also Sealand, (now rare) Zeeland; DanishSjælland, †Seeland, Old DanishSiæland, Sieland, etc.), the name of the largest island (excluding Greenland) in Denmark (< a first element of uncertain and disputed origin + landlandn.1) + ‑ersuffix1.
Notes
Compare DanishSjællænder (18th cent. or earlier).
The name of the Danish island is attested in English sources from at least the late 16th cent. Compare the following early example:
1584
The kingdome of Denmarke had vnder it not onelie Denmarke..and the Ile of Sealand and Finnen [sc. Funen]..; but also Norway.
H. Llwyd & D. Powel, Historie of Cambria 39
Meaning & use
1663–
A native or inhabitant of the Danish island of Zealand.
1663
King Knute of Denmark raised all the power of his Country, caused the Schleswickers to prepare 130 Ships.., the Sealanders 120 [Da. aff Seeland, 120], [etc.].
D. Collins, translation of M. P. Escholt, Geologia Norvegica vi. 72
1694
Sueno and Canute, the first having on his side the Zealanders, and Inhabitants of Schonen, the latter the Jutlanders.
J. Crull, Denmark Vindicated 182
1761
The Zealanders..espoused the cause of Swen, son to Eric Emund, and chose him for their king.
Modern Part of Universal Historyvol. XXXII. v. 134
1848
Jutes, Sealanders, and Angles conversed like sons of the same people in good Danish.
translation of C. F. Allen, On Nationality & Lang. in Duchy of Sleswick or S. Jutland viii. 84
1891
The patois differs in every province, so that the Zealanders have a distinct dialect from the Jutlanders.
Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago) 28 December 5/1
1915
The Zeelanders and natives of Funan are of a more happy-go-lucky nature.
Rep. 19th Ann. Meeting U.S. Live Stock Sanitary Association 156
1988
Living in Denmark's International Kollegium, I have felt the repercussions of a clash between Jutlanders and Zealanders.
Garden City (Kansas) Telegram 12 May 16b
2014
Where Poulsen was a Zealander, from just outside Copenhagen, Margarethe was a country girl from Fyn.
C. Galt, Biblical xiii. 108
Pronunciation
British English
/ˈziːləndə/
ZEE-luhn-duh
U.S. English
/ˈziləndər/
ZEE-luhn-duhr
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.
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.
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.
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
Forms
Variant forms
1600s; 1800s–
Sealander, Zealander
1800s–
Zeelander
Frequency
Zealander typically occurs about 0.4 times per million words in modern written English.
Zealander is in frequency band 4, which contains words occurring between 0.1 and 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 Zealander, n.¹, 1750–2010
* 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
1750
0.27
1760
0.32
1770
0.3
1780
0.31
1790
0.35
1800
0.31
1810
0.37
1820
0.42
1830
0.54
1840
0.55
1850
0.6
1860
0.53
1870
0.5
1880
0.43
1890
0.42
1900
0.41
1910
0.4
1920
0.48
1930
0.51
1940
0.53
1950
0.51
1960
0.52
1970
0.45
1980
0.4
1990
0.37
2000
0.37
2010
0.35
Zealander, n.¹ was first published in June 2018.
Zealander, n.¹ was last modified in September 2024.