zoopraxiscope, n.

zoopraxiscope
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoopraxiscope_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2017

# zoopraxiscopenoun

## Earlier version

- zoopraxiscope in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zoopraxiscope mean?

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

### How common is the noun zoopraxiscope?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1880 | 0.0007
1890 | 0.0007
1900 | 0.0011
1910 | 0.0016
1920 | 0.002
1930 | 0.0022
1940 | 0.0028
1950 | 0.003
1960 | 0.0037
1970 | 0.004
1980 | 0.0041
1990 | 0.0043
2000 | 0.0047
2010 | 0.0047

### How is the noun zoopraxiscope pronounced?

#### British English

/ˌzuː(ə)ˈpraksᵻskəʊp/
zoo-uh-PRACK-suh-skohp
/ˌzəʊəˈpraksᵻskəʊp/
zoh-uh-PRACK-suh-skohp

#### U.S. English

/ˌzu(ə)ˈpræksəˌskoʊp/
zoo-uh-PRACK-suh-skohp
/ˌzoʊəˈpræksəˌskoʊp/
zoh-uh-PRACK-suh-skohp

### Where does the noun zoopraxiscope come from?

Earliest known use

1880s

The earliest known use of the noun zoopraxiscope is in the 1880s.

OED's earliest evidence for zoopraxiscope is from 1881, in the Leeds Mercury.

zoopraxiscope is a borrowing from Greek, combined with English elements.

Etymons: zoo- comb. form, Greek πράξεως, πρᾶξις, ‑scope comb. form.

### Nearby entries

1. zoophytologist, n. 1835–
2. zoophytology, n. 1815–
3. zoophyton, n. 1601–
4. zooplankter, n. 1935–
5. zooplanktivore, n. 1972–
6. zooplanktivorous, adj. 1971–
7. zooplankton, n. 1897–
8. zooplanktonic, adj. 1912–
9. zooplastic, adj. a1855–
10. zoopraxinoscope, n. 1889–
11. zoopraxiscope, n.1881–
12. zoopraxography, n. 1891–
13. zoopsychology, n. 1847–
14. zooscopic, adj. 1817–
15. zooscopy, n. 1891–
16. zoosematic, adj. 1898–1909
17. zoosemiotics, n. 1963–
18. zoosophy, n. 1662–1848
19. zoosperm, n. 1824–
20. zoospermatic, adj. 1845–79
21. zoosporangiophore, n. 1889–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Greek, combined with English elements.
Etymons: zoo- comb. form, Greek πράξεως, πρᾶξις, ‑scope comb. form.
Originally (in α forms) < zoo- comb. form + ancient Greek πράξεως, genitive singular of πρᾶξις action (see praxis n.) + ‑scope comb. form.

Subsequently (in β forms) remodelled after ancient Greek πρᾶξις.

Compare slightly earlier zoogyroscope n.…
Originally (in α forms) < zoo- comb. form + ancient Greek πράξεως, genitive singular of πρᾶξις action (see praxis n.) + ‑scope comb. form.

Subsequently (in β forms) remodelled after ancient Greek πρᾶξις.

Compare slightly earlier zoogyroscope n. and later zoopraxinoscope n.

### Notes

Apparently coined by E. J. Muybridge (1830–1904), English photographer.

## Meaning & use

Now chiefly historical.

1. 1881–
   A modified form of zoetrope used to project a series of photographic images of animals or other subjects in order to display their movement; cf. zoogyroscope n.
   1. 1881

      > The Zoöpraxeoscope is..the zoögyroscope in an improved form.

      Leeds Mercury 31 May 5
   2. 1889

      > Mr. Muybridge, of Philadelphia, lectured on ‘The Science of Animal Locomotion in its Relation to Design in Art.’.. The lecturer by the zoopraxiscope and its limelight displayed a great number of illustrations.

      Athenæum 16 March 352/3
   3. 1903

      > The first step toward this was..the above-mentioned zoopraxiscope, in which, when the machine was turned round, the action of horse and man was seen in every detail.

      Wilson's Photogr. Magazine February 81/2
   4. 2007

      > On February 27, 1888.., Muybridge had given Edison a demonstration of his animal locomotion studies using his projecting Zoopraxiscope.

      R. Zone, Stereoscopic Cinema & Origins 3-D Film iii. 36
   photography historical
   1. multiplying-glass 1639–1865
      A toy consisting of a concave glass or lens, the surface of which is cut into facets so as to give numerous reflections of an observed object. Also…
   2. Cartesian devil 1731–
      A philosophical toy, consisting of a hollow figure, partly filled with water and partly with air, and made to float in a vessel nearly filled with…
   3. kaleidoscope 1817–
      An optical instrument, consisting of from two to four reflecting surfaces placed in a tube, at one end of which is a small compartment containing…
   4. myriorama 1823–
      A picture consisting of a number of separate sections which are capable of being combined in numerous ways to form different scenes.
   5. thaumatrope 1827–
      A scientific toy illustrating the persistence of visual impressions, consisting of a card or disk with two different figures drawn upon the two…
   6. bottle imp 1833–
      A toy consisting of a hollow figure which sinks and rises in a container of water; = Cartesian diver Cartesian devil n. at Cartesian, adj. & n.…
   7. phantasmascope 1833–
      = phenakistoscope, n.
   8. phenakistoscope 1834–
      A toy consisting of a disc or drum with figures representing a moving object in successive positions arranged radially on it, to be viewed in such a…
   9. stroboscope 1836–
      A scientific toy which produces the illusion of motion by a series of pictures viewed through the openings of a revolving disc.
   10. anorthoscope 1842–
       An optical toy for viewing distorted figures drawn on a rotating disk.
   11. tantalus-cup 1842–
       See quot. 1842; also figurative.
   12. phantascope 1851–
       = phenakistoscope, n.
   13. phantoscope 1861–
       = phenakistoscope, n.
   14. Pharaoh's serpent 1863–
       A chemical toy composed of mercury thiocyanate, which, when ignited, burns slowly, leaving a brown ash residue which forms a snakelike trail.
   15. phosphoroscope 1866–81
       A scientific toy consisting of an arrangement of glass tubes containing various phosphorescent substances, each of which glows with a different…
   16. zoetrope 1866–
       An optical device or toy consisting of a cylinder with a series of pictures on the inner surface that, when viewed through slits with the…
   17. metamorphoscope 1867–77
       An optical toy which displays pictures composed of a permutation of different sections (see quots.).
   18. wheel of life 1872–
       = zoetrope, n.
   19. myrioscope 1875–
       A kind of kaleidoscope in which patterns are produced by continuous movement of a flat object of fixed design, such as a piece of embroidery, in…
   20. praxinoscope 1878–
       A toy resembling a zoetrope, in which a series of figures representing successive positions of a moving object are arranged on the inner surface…
   21. zoopraxiscope 1881–
       A modified form of zoetrope used to project a series of photographic images of animals or other subjects in order to display their movement; cf. z…
   22. phantoscope 1894
       A kaleidoscope into one end of which an object can be placed to be viewed. Obsolete.
   23. Newton's cradle 1971–
       Physics. attributive and in the genitive. Designating or relating to physical phenomena, concepts… A toy consisting of a number of small metal balls…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˌzuː(ə)ˈpraksᵻskəʊp/
zoo-uh-PRACK-suh-skohp
/ˌzəʊəˈpraksᵻskəʊp/
zoh-uh-PRACK-suh-skohp

### U.S. English

/ˌzu(ə)ˈpræksəˌskoʊp/
zoo-uh-PRACK-suh-skohp
/ˌzoʊəˈpræksəˌskoʊp/
zoh-uh-PRACK-suh-skohp

####

##### 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

##### α.

1. 1800s
   zoöpraxeoscope

##### β.

1. 1800s–
   zoopraxiscope, zoöpraxiscope

## Frequency

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

zoopraxiscope 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 zoopraxiscope, n., 1880–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1880 | 0.0007
1890 | 0.0007
1900 | 0.0011
1910 | 0.0016
1920 | 0.002
1930 | 0.0022
1940 | 0.0028
1950 | 0.003
1960 | 0.0037
1970 | 0.004
1980 | 0.0041
1990 | 0.0043
2000 | 0.0047
2010 | 0.0047

zoopraxiscope, n. was revised in June 2017.

zoopraxiscope, n. was last modified in July 2023.