zygodactyladjective & noun
Factsheet
What does the word zygodactyl mean?
There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the word zygodactyl. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, 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 word zygodactyl?
| 1870 | 0.0013 |
| 1880 | 0.0013 |
| 1890 | 0.0013 |
| 1900 | 0.0012 |
| 1910 | 0.0013 |
| 1920 | 0.0014 |
| 1930 | 0.0012 |
| 1940 | 0.0014 |
| 1950 | 0.0017 |
| 1960 | 0.0019 |
| 1970 | 0.002 |
| 1980 | 0.0022 |
| 1990 | 0.0024 |
| 2000 | 0.0027 |
| 2010 | 0.0025 |
How is the word zygodactyl pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the word zygodactyl come from?
Earliest known use
1830s
The earliest known use of the word zygodactyl is in the 1830s.
OED's earliest evidence for zygodactyl is from 1831, in Gardens & Menagerie Zool. Society: Birds.
zygodactyl is formed within English, by compounding.
Etymons: zygo- comb. form, ‑dactyl comb. form.
Nearby entries
- zygapophysial, adj.1870–
- zygapophysis, n.1854–
- zygite, n.1888–
- zygnemaceous, adj.
- zygnemid, n.1887–
- zygnomic, adj.1926–
- zygo-, comb. form
- zygobranchiate, adj.1883–
- zygocactus, n.1950–
- zygocardiac, adj.1877–
- zygodactyl, adj. & n.1831–
- zygodactylic, adj.1835–
- zygodactylous, adj.1828–
- zygodont, adj.1888–
- zygogenesis, n.1950–
- zygology, n.1970–
- zygoma, n.1684–
- zygomatic, adj. & n.1712–
- zygomatico-, comb. form
- zygomato-, comb. form
- zygomere, n.1966–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- adjective
- 1831–Having the toes ‘yoked’ or arranged in pairs, i.e. two before and two behind, as the feet of a scansorial bird, or the bird itself; yoke-toed.
- 1831
By the structure of their toes, which are partially zygodactyle (the intermediate ones being turned forwards, and the two lateral ones most commonly taking the opposite direction).
Gardens & Menagerie Zool. Society: Birds 73 - 1890
The arrangement of toes in pairs, two before and two behind,..is called zygodactyl or zygodactylous.
E. Coues, Handbook Field & General Ornithology 187
the world animals birds parts of or bird defined by [adjectives] of toes or claws having particular type of- zygodactylous1828–
- yoke-toed1831–Having toes arranged so that two point forward and two point backward; cf. zygodactylous, adj.
- zygodactyl1831–Having the toes ‘yoked’ or arranged in pairs, i.e. two before and two behind, as the feet of a scansorial bird, or the bird itself; yoke-toed.
- anisodactylic1834–Unequal-toed (said of those insessorial birds called by Temminck Anisodactyles).
- zygodactylic1835–
- lark-heeled1837–(See quots.)
- short-toed1837–Having short toes; esp. in short-toed lark, any of various larks of the genera Calandrella and Spizocorys, which comprise small gregarious birds…
- heterodactylous1854–Having the toes, or one of them, irregular or abnormal, as certain families of birds (Ogilvie, 1882).
- pair-toed1868–(Of a bird) having the toes in pairs, two in front and two behind; zygodactylous.
- sympelmous1885–Having the tendons of the deep flexors of the toes united before separating to each of the four digits.
- pamprodactylous1889–Of a bird's foot: having all the toes pointing forward.
- pigeon-toed1890Ornithology. Of a bird: having feet similar to those of pigeons, with the hind toe inserted at the same level as the other toes. Cf. peristeropod…
- pamprodactyl1934–= pamprodactylous, adj.
- Bad form of sympelmous (see sym-, prefix).
- noun
- 1890–A yoke-toed bird.
- [1842
Zygodactyles, the name given by M. Temminck to an order of Climbing Birds.
W. T. Brande, Dictionary of Science, Literature & Art 1343/2] - 1890
The true hind toe is wanting, the outer anterior one being reversed as usual in zygodactyls.
E. Coues, Handbook Field & General Ornithology 188
Pronunciation
British English
U.S. English
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
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
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
Also zygodactyle.Frequency
zygodactyl typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zygodactyl 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 of zygodactyl, adj. & n., 1870–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1870 | 0.0013 |
| 1880 | 0.0013 |
| 1890 | 0.0013 |
| 1900 | 0.0012 |
| 1910 | 0.0013 |
| 1920 | 0.0014 |
| 1930 | 0.0012 |
| 1940 | 0.0014 |
| 1950 | 0.0017 |
| 1960 | 0.0019 |
| 1970 | 0.002 |
| 1980 | 0.0022 |
| 1990 | 0.0024 |
| 2000 | 0.0027 |
| 2010 | 0.0025 |
Compounds & derived words
- zygodactylous, adj. 1828–
- zygodactylic, adj. 1835–