zootypenoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zootype mean?
There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun zootype. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun zootype?
| 1880 | 0.004 |
| 1890 | 0.0038 |
| 1900 | 0.0032 |
| 1910 | 0.0028 |
| 1920 | 0.0024 |
| 1930 | 0.0024 |
| 1940 | 0.0006 |
| 1950 | 0.0007 |
| 1960 | 0.0017 |
| 1970 | 0.0033 |
| 1980 | 0.0048 |
| 1990 | 0.0056 |
| 2000 | 0.0067 |
| 2010 | 0.0081 |
How is the noun zootype pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun zootype come from?
Earliest known use
1880s
The earliest known use of the noun zootype is in the 1880s.
OED's earliest evidence for zootype is from 1883, in the writing of G. Massey.
Nearby entries
- zootomical, adj.1799–
- zootomically, adv.1849–
- zootomist, n.1663–
- zootomy, n.1663–
- zootoxin, n.1906–
- zootrophy, n.1877–
- zoot suit, n.1942–
- zoot-suited, adj.1942–
- zoot-suiter, n.1942–
- zooty, adj.1942–
- zootype, n.1883–
- zootypic, adj.1853–
- zoowoman, n.1930–
- zooxanthella, n.1882–
- zooxanthellate, adj. & n.1981–
- zooxanthin, n.1868–
- zoozygosphere, n.1880–
- zope, n.1880–
- zophoric, adj.1728–
- zophorus | zoophorus, n.1563–
- zopilote, n.1787–
Meaning & use
- 1883–a. An animal, or figure of an animal, used as the symbolic representation of a god; b. a spatial pattern of gene expression shared by all animal phyla; a stage of embryonic development characterized by the expression of such a pattern.
- 1883
The four zoötypes of the four elements..the crocodile of earth ; the phœnix of the solar fire ; the ape of air ; and the fish or hippopotamus of the waters.
G. Massey, Natural Genesis vol. II. 325 - 1972
The zootype was depicted..with muscular body, bristling fur, lean and flat head, baring its fangs into a snarl.
Central Asiatic Journal vol. 16 14 - 1993
We propose that an animal is an organism that displays a particular spatial pattern of gene expression, and we define this pattern as the zootype.
J. M. W. Slack et al. in Nature 11 February 490/1 - 2000
The zootype is the point in development when genes specifying relative positions, such as Hox genes, are being expressed.
Systematic Biology vol. 49 9/2
- zootype1883–a. An animal, or figure of an animal, used as the symbolic representation of a god; b. a spatial pattern of gene expression shared by all animal…
- rongorongo1919–A hieroglyphic script found on wooden tablets on Easter Island, a Chilean dependency in the eastern Pacific Ocean; the art of incising this…
- Pascuan1982–The script used by the inhabitants of Easter Island; = rongorongo, n. rare.
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
Frequency
zootype typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zootype 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 zootype, 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 | 0.004 |
| 1890 | 0.0038 |
| 1900 | 0.0032 |
| 1910 | 0.0028 |
| 1920 | 0.0024 |
| 1930 | 0.0024 |
| 1940 | 0.0006 |
| 1950 | 0.0007 |
| 1960 | 0.0017 |
| 1970 | 0.0033 |
| 1980 | 0.0048 |
| 1990 | 0.0056 |
| 2000 | 0.0067 |
| 2010 | 0.0081 |