zymurgy, n.

zymurgy
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zymurgy_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1921; not fully revised

# zymurgynoun

## Earlier version

- zymurgy in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zymurgy mean?

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

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1920 | 0.0008
1930 | 0.001
1940 | 0.0011
1950 | 0.0012
1960 | 0.0015
1970 | 0.0016
1980 | 0.0018
1990 | 0.0019
2000 | 0.0019
2010 | 0.002

### How is the noun zymurgy pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzʌɪˌməːdʒi/
ZIGH-mur-jee

#### U.S. English

/ˈzaɪˌmərdʒi/
ZIGH-murr-jee

### Where does the noun zymurgy come from?

Earliest known use

1860s

The earliest known use of the noun zymurgy is in the 1860s.

OED's only evidence for zymurgy is from 1868, in a dictionary by Henry Watts, chemist.

zymurgy is a borrowing from Greek.

Etymons: Greek ζύμη, ‑ουργία.

### Nearby entries

1. zymosan, n. 1943–
2. zymoscope, n. 1868–
3. zymosimeter, n. 1704–
4. zymosis, n. 1842–
5. zymotechnic, adj. 1896–
6. zymotechnical, adj. 1900–
7. zymotechnologist, n. 1896–
8. zymotechny, n. 1860–
9. zymotic, adj. & n. 1842–
10. zymotoxic, adj. 1902–
11. zymurgy, n.1868–
12. Zyrian, n. & adj. 1886–
13. zythum, n. 1608–
14. Zyzzyva, n. 1922–
15. 0800 number, n. 1988–
16. 0898 number, n. 1988–
17. 101, adj. 1929–
18. 1471, n. 1994–
19. 17-hydroxycorticosteroid, n. 1951–
20. 1984, n. 1951–
21. 1984-ish, adj. 1959–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Greek.
Etymons: Greek ζύμη, ‑ουργία.
< ancient Greek ζύμη leaven + ‑ουργία working, as in metallurgy n.

## Meaning & use

1. 1868–
   The practice or art of fermentation, as in winemaking, brewing, distilling, etc.
   1. 1868
      H. Watts, Dictionary of Chemistry vol. V. 1086.
   1. fervence c1420–1634
      Boiling or glowing heat. Also, Violent ebullition, fermentation.
   2. spurging c1440–1720
      The action on the part of ale, wine, etc., of throwing off impurities by fermenting; fermentation. Obsolete.
   3. working 1548–
      The process of liquor undergoing fermentation; an instance of this. Cf. work, v. I.6.
   4. bustle 1674–1836
      Brewing. Movement produced in the process of fermentation. Also figurative. Obsolete.
   5. zymurgy 1868–
      The practice or art of fermentation, as in winemaking, brewing, distilling, etc.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzʌɪˌməːdʒi/
ZIGH-mur-jee

### U.S. English

/ˈzaɪˌmərdʒi/
ZIGH-murr-jee

####

##### 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

## Frequency

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

zymurgy 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 zymurgy, n., 1920–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1920 | 0.0008
1930 | 0.001
1940 | 0.0011
1950 | 0.0012
1960 | 0.0015
1970 | 0.0016
1980 | 0.0018
1990 | 0.0019
2000 | 0.0019
2010 | 0.002

zymurgy, n. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.

zymurgy, n. was last modified in July 2023.