Zennist, adj. & n.

zennist
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zennist_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 2015

# Zennistadjective & noun

## Factsheet

### What does the word Zennist mean?

There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the word Zennist. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the word Zennist?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1920 | 0.0015
1930 | 0.0023
1940 | 0.0026
1950 | 0.0027
1960 | 0.0031
1970 | 0.0029
1980 | 0.0031
1990 | 0.0035
2000 | 0.0031
2010 | 0.0029

### Where does the word Zennist come from?

Earliest known use

1900s

The earliest known use of the word Zennist is in the 1900s.

OED's earliest evidence for Zennist is from 1904, in Philosopher.

### Nearby entries

1. zenith sweep, n. 1790–
2. zenith telescope, n. 1803–
3. zenith tube, n. 1825–
4. zenithward, n., adv., & adj. 1655–
5. zenithwards, adv. 1826–
6. Zenker, n.¹ 1872–
7. Zenker, n.² 1894–
8. Zen-like, adj. a1908–
9. Zen master, n. 1907–
10. Zenned-out, adj. 1968–
11. Zennist, adj. & n.1904–
12. zeno-, comb. form
13. zenocentric, adj. 1911–
14. Zenocratically, adv. 1588
15. zenographic, adj. 1853–
16. zenographical, adj. 1853–
17. zenography, n. 1890–
18. Zenonian, adj.¹ & n.¹ 1654–
19. Zenonian, adj.² 1756–
20. Zenonian, adj.³ & n.² 1837–
21. Zenonic, adj.¹ 1779–

## Meaning & use

1. 1904–
   a. adj. Of or relating to Zen Buddhism or its teachings; b. n. a person who practises Zen Buddhism; a Zen Buddhist.
   Stressed as ˈZennist.
   1. 1904

      > The Yamato poetry and the Bugaku music..are a source of delight to this present, as are likewise the somber Zenist symbolism and the No dances.

      Philosopher August 43
   2. 1911

      > Beauty, said the Zenists,..is always deeper hidden within than outwardly expressed.

      Contemporary Review September 401
   3. 1991

      > The third meaning of absence is the aforementioned Zenist emptiness.

      J. Whitlark, Behind Great Wall vii. 145
   4. 2001

      > The third and final Zennist that Stevens discusses..was a gentle, reclusive, guileless, and self-effacing teacher.

      Journal Relig. & Health vol. 40 432
   Buddhism
   1. Zennist 1904–
      a. adj. Of or relating to Zen Buddhism or its teachings; b. n. a person who practises Zen Buddhism; a Zen Buddhist.
   2. Zen 1962–
      Reminiscent of Zen Buddhism. Also more generally: calm and relaxed; serene. Cf. sense A.3.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. Zennist 1904–
      a. adj. Of or relating to Zen Buddhism or its teachings; b. n. a person who practises Zen Buddhism; a Zen Buddhist.
   2. Zen master 1907–
      An experienced or advanced practitioner of Zen Buddhism, esp. one who teaches or mentors others.
   3. Zen Buddhist 1917–
      a. adj.Of or relating to Zen Buddhism or its teachings; b. n. a person who practises Zen Buddhism.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Forms

### Variant forms

Also Zenist.

## Frequency

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

Zennist 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 Zennist, adj. & 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 | 0.0015
1930 | 0.0023
1940 | 0.0026
1950 | 0.0027
1960 | 0.0031
1970 | 0.0029
1980 | 0.0031
1990 | 0.0035
2000 | 0.0031
2010 | 0.0029

Originally published as part of the entry for Zen, n. & adj.

Zennist, adj. & n. was first published in 2015.