zoic, adj.

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

# zoicadjective

## Earlier version

- zoic, a. in OED Second Edition (1989)

## 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

geology (1860s) animals (1890s)

#### 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?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

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

/ˈzəʊɪk/
ZOH-ik

#### U.S. English

/ˈzoʊɪk/
ZOH-ik

### 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

1. zodiac line, n. 1590
2. zodiac ring, n. 1895–
3. zodiographer, n. 1650
4. zoea, n. 1828–
5. zoeal, adj.?1870–
6. zoetrope, n. 1866–
7. zographer, n. 1570
8. zography, n. 1570
9. zograscope, n. 1753–
10. Zohar, n. 1682–
11. zoic, adj.1863–
12. -zoic, comb. form¹
13. -zoic, comb. form²
14. zoid, n. 1856–
15. zoid, adj. 1864–
16. zoidiophilous, adj. 1872–
17. zoidogamous, adj. 1899–
18. Zoilean, adj. 1846–
19. Zoilism, n. 1609–
20. Zoilist, n. 1594–
21. Zoilitical, adj. 1665

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Greek.
Etymon: Greek ζωικός.
< Greek ζωικός, < ζῷον animal; in sense 1 taken as < ζωή life, after azoic adj.

## Meaning & use

1. 1.
   1863–
   Showing traces of life; in Geology, containing organic remains.
   1. 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
   2. 1885–6

      > These great Pre-Cambrian and Post-Archæan series are zoic in character.

      Rep. U.S. Geol. Surv. (1888) 453
   geology
   1. vital 1855–
      Geology. Produced or formed by vital action or force; of vital or organic origin.
   2. zoic 1863–
      Showing traces of life; in Geology, containing organic remains.
   3. zoogenic 1866–
      Formed by or derived from animals or their parts. Cf. phytogenic, adj.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
2. 2.
   1898–
   Of the nature of an animal; animal.
   1. 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*
   2. 1900

      > The use of zoic motives in the decoration of primitive weapons.

      Annual Reports Smithsonian Inst. 63
   animals
   1. animalish 1653–78
      Of the nature of an animal. Obsolete.
   2. zoic 1898–
      Of the nature of an animal; animal.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzəʊɪk/
ZOH-ik

### U.S. English

/ˈzoʊɪk/
ZOH-ik

####

##### 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

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 data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### 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

zoic, adj. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.

zoic, adj. was last modified in December 2024.