zip-code, v.

zip-code
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zip-code_v%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 2021

# zip-codeverb

## Factsheet

### What does the verb zip-code mean?

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

This word is used in U.S. English.

### How common is the verb zip-code?

About 0.07occurrences per million words in modern written English

1960 | 0.051
1970 | 0.06
1980 | 0.065
1990 | 0.065
2000 | 0.076
2010 | 0.087

### How is the verb zip-code pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɪp kəʊd/
ZIP kohd

#### U.S. English

/ˈzɪp ˌkoʊd/
ZIP kohd

### Where does the verb zip-code come from?

Earliest known use

1960s

The earliest known use of the verb zip-code is in the 1960s.

OED's earliest evidence for zip-code is from 1962, in the Washington Post.

zip-code is formed within English, by conversion.

Etymons: zip code n.

### Nearby entries

1. Zionward, adv. 1647–
2. Zionwards, adv. 1674–
3. zip, n.² & adj. 1900–
4. zip, n.³ 1962–
5. zip, n.⁴ 1968–
6. zip, v.¹ 1852–
7. zip, v.² 1964–
8. zip, int. & n.¹ 1678–
9. zip-a-dee-doo-dah, int. & adj. 1945–
10. zip code, n. 1962–
11. zip-code, v.1962–
12. zip-coded, adj. 1963–
13. zip-coding, n. 1964–
14. zip coon, n. 1833–
15. zip cuff, n. 1995–
16. zip cuff, v. 1996–
17. Zipf, n. 1936–
18. zip fastener, n. 1925–
19. zip fastening, n. & adj. 1925–
20. zip gun, n. 1914–
21. Ziph, n. 1834–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by conversion.
< zip code n.

## Meaning & use

U.S.

1. 1962–
   transitive. To mark (an item of mail) with a zip code. Also: to designate or distinguish (a person) based on his or her zip code (cf. zip code n. Compounds).
   1. 1962

      > A piece of mail ZIP-coded 98712 would ZIP to (9—California; 8—Northern California; 7—Sacramento; 12—a building in Sacramento).

      Washington Post 5 December a21/2
   2. 1989

      > You need to remember numbers..to ZIP-code letters, to phone home or across the world.

      St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Dispatch (Nexis) 25 June (PD Magazine) 12
   3. 2015

      > What happens when children are zip-coded into failing schools.

      @oneplusoneumc 30 December in twitter.com (accessed 22 Sept. 2020)
   U.S. English
   1. zip-code 1962–
      transitive. To mark (an item of mail) with a zip code. Also: to designate or distinguish (a person) based on his or her zip code (cf. zip code, n.…
   2. postal-code 1969–
      transitive to write a postcode on (a letter, parcel, etc.).
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɪp kəʊd/
ZIP kohd

### U.S. English

/ˈzɪp ˌkoʊd/
ZIP kohd

####

##### 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.

####

##### 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 /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.

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

## Forms

### Variant forms

See zip code n.

## Frequency

zip-code typically occurs about 0.07 times per million words in modern written English.

zip-code 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 zip-code, v., 1960–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1960 | 0.051
1970 | 0.06
1980 | 0.065
1990 | 0.065
2000 | 0.076
2010 | 0.087

zip-code, v. was first published in March 2021.

zip-code, v. was last modified in July 2023.