There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zoogene. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
This word is now obsolete. It is last recorded around the 1860s.
The earliest known use of the noun zoogene is in the 1820s.
OED's earliest evidence for zoogene is from 1820, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.
zoogene is a borrowing from Italian.
Etymons: Italian zoogene.
Nearby entries
- Zoodikers, int.1749–98
- zoodynamic, adj.?1819–
- zoodynamics, n.1888–
- zooecial, adj.1873–
- zooecium, n.1871–
- zooerythrin, n.1871–
- zooflagellate, n. & adj.1911–
- zooful, n.1914–
- zoofulvin, n.1871–
- zoogamete, n.1879–
- zoogene, n.1820–69
- zoogenic, adj.1842–
- zoogeny, n.1826–
- zoogeographer, n.1868–
- zoogeographic, adj.1875–
- zoogeographical, adj.1864–
- zoogeographically, adv.1883–
- zoogeography, n.1851–
- zoogeological, adj.1841–
- zoogeologist, n.1844–
- zoogeology, n.1838–
A borrowing from Italian.
Etymon: Italian zoogene.
< Italian zoogene (C. di Gimbernat 1819, in
Giornale di fisica, chimica, storia naturale ed arti vol. 9 179)
< zoo- zoo- comb. form +
‑gene ‑gen comb. form…
< Italian zoogene (C. di Gimbernat 1819, in
Giornale di fisica, chimica, storia naturale ed arti vol. 9 179)
< zoo- zoo- comb. form +
‑gene ‑gen comb. form.
New English Dictionary (OED first edition) (1921) enters this under the headword zoogen and gives the pronunciation as (zōu·ŏdʒen) /ˈzəʊədʒɛn/ .
1820–69
A nitrogenous substance obtained as a slimy residue from the water of mineral springs. Cf.
barégin n.,
glairin n.1820
Mineral Animal Matter—Zoogene.—Sig. Carlo di Gimbernat has discovered a peculiar substance in the thermal waters of Baden and of Ischia.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine March 710
1833
Baregine... It is termed ‘Zoogen’ by Gimbernat.
Medico-chirurg. Rev., & Journal Pract. Medicine vol. 19 31
1869
Other nitrogenous substances are found—the so-called Glairine or the Zoogene.
E. A. Parkes, Manual of Practical Hygiene (ed. 3) 20
A nitrogenous substance obtained as a slimy residue from the water of mineral springs. Cf. barégin, n., glairin, n.
(See quots. and cf. barégin, n.
zoogene, n. was revised in June 2017.
zoogene, n. was last modified in December 2024.
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