zithering, adj.

zithering
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zithering_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2021

# zitheringadjective

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective zithering mean?

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

### How common is the adjective zithering?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1890 | 0.00004
1900 | 0.00006
1910 | 0.0001
1920 | 0.0001
1930 | 0.0001
1940 | 0.0001
1950 | 0.0002
1960 | 0.0002
1970 | 0.0002
1980 | 0.0002
1990 | 0.0002
2000 | 0.0002
2010 | 0.0002

### How is the adjective zithering pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɪðərɪŋ/
ZIDH-uh-ring
/ˈzɪθərɪŋ/
ZITH-uh-ring

#### U.S. English

/ˈzɪðərɪŋ/
ZIDH-uhr-ing
/ˈzɪθərɪŋ/
ZITH-uhr-ing

### Where does the adjective zithering come from?

Earliest known use

1880s

The earliest known use of the adjective zithering is in the 1880s.

OED's earliest evidence for zithering is from 1889, in the writing of M. Ostlere.

zithering is formed within English, by derivation.

Etymons: zither v., ‑ing suffix2.

### Nearby entries

1. zirconyl, n. 1887–
2. zirkelite, n. 1895–
3. zit, n. 1912–
4. zit cream, n. 1968–
5. zitella, n. a1660–
6. zit-face, n. 1974–
7. zit-faced, adj. 1971–
8. zither, n. 1831–
9. zither, v. 1889–
10. zither banjo, n. 1888–
11. zithering, adj.1889–
12. zitherist, n. 1866–
13. zither-like, adj. 1881–
14. ziti, n. 1845–
15. zitty, adj. 1971–
16. Ziv, n. a1382–
17. zizania, n. 1526–
18. zizany, n. a1400–1803
19. zizel, n. 1775–
20. zizypha, n. 1546–1775
21. zizyphus, n.?1440–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by derivation.
< zither v. + ‑ing suffix2.

## Meaning & use

1. 1889–
   Reminiscent of or involving a zither; buzzing, humming; (also) flickering, fluttering (cf. zither v. 1b).
   1. 1889

      > It swithered through the badly-fixed windows, making zithering sounds as of an army of cold and frozen-out mosquitoes.

      M. Ostlere, Dead! iii. 76
   2. 1966

      > The mastodon was finished, putrefying below the walls in a zithering swarm of flies.

      J. Gaskell, City (1970) iv. 136
   3. 1979

      > The helicopter..trailing a zithering shadow.

      H. McLeave, Double Exposure i. 1
   4. 2007

      > A flourish of flutes and zithering strings announce the first images of the diegesis.

      S. Peacock, Reading 24 3
   1. buzzing 1556–
      Making, or characterized by, a sibilant humming.
   2. zizzy 1843–
      Characterized by or involving a buzzing or whizzing sound. Now rare.
   3. buzzy 1871–
      Full of buzzing; buzzing.
   4. zithering 1889–
      Reminiscent of or involving a zither; buzzing, humming; (also) flickering, fluttering (cf. zither, v. 1b).
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɪðərɪŋ/
ZIDH-uh-ring
/ˈzɪθərɪŋ/
ZITH-uh-ring

### U.S. English

/ˈzɪðərɪŋ/
ZIDH-uhr-ing
/ˈzɪθərɪŋ/
ZITH-uhr-ing

####

##### 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

## Frequency

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

zithering is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 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 zithering, adj., 1890–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1890 | 0.00004
1900 | 0.00006
1910 | 0.0001
1920 | 0.0001
1930 | 0.0001
1940 | 0.0001
1950 | 0.0002
1960 | 0.0002
1970 | 0.0002
1980 | 0.0002
1990 | 0.0002
2000 | 0.0002
2010 | 0.0002

Originally published as part of the entry for zither, v.

zithering, adj. was revised in March 2021.

zithering, adj. was last modified in July 2023.