zwischenzug, n.

zwischenzug
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zwischenzug_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1986; not fully revised

# zwischenzugnoun

## Earlier version

- zwischenzug in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zwischenzug mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zwischenzug. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, 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 noun zwischenzug?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1960 | 0.0002
1970 | 0.0002
1980 | 0.0002
1990 | 0.0002
2000 | 0.0002
2010 | 0.0003

### How is the noun zwischenzug pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈtsvɪʃəntsuːk/

### Where does the noun zwischenzug come from?

Earliest known use

1940s

The earliest known use of the noun zwischenzug is in the 1940s.

OED's earliest evidence for zwischenzug is from 1941, in the writing of F. Reinfeld.

zwischenzug is a borrowing from German.

### Nearby entries

1. zut, int. 1915–
2. zuur-veldt, n. 1785–
3. zuz, n. 1688–
4. zwanziger, n. 1828–
5. Zweig, n. 1973–
6. zwieback, n. 1894–
7. zwieselite, n. 1861–
8. Zwinglian, n. & adj. 1532–
9. Zwinglianism, n. 1581–
10. Zwinglianist, n. 1673–1759
11. zwischenzug, n.1941–
12. zwitterion, n. 1906–
13. zwitterionic, adj. 1946–
14. Zydeco, n. 1949–
15. zygadite, n. 1861–
16. zygaena, n. 1717–
17. zygaenid, n. & adj. 1913–
18. zygaenidan, n. 1837–
19. zygal, adj. 1886–
20. zygantrum, n. 1854–
21. zygapophysial, adj. 1870–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from German.
German, < zwischen intermediate + zug move.

## Meaning & use

Chess.

1. 1941–
   An interim or temporizing move.
   1. 1941

      > This masterly Zwischenzug is the finest move in the whole game.

      F. Reinfeld, Keres' Best Games of Chess 108/1
   2. 1969

      > Carl thought about the move for thirty-five minutes, and then made a temporising move, a zwischenzug, checking with his Bishop.

      ‘A. Glyn’, Dragon Variation ix. 292
   3. 1978

      > 50 P-K6ch Black resigns. 50... K × P now fails to the zwischenzug 51 B-N3!

      Spectator 26 August 27/3
   chess
   1. neck 1557–1637
      A move to cover check.
   2. stroke 1735–
      In a game: An effective move or combination.
   3. key 1845–
      Chess. The first move in the solution of a problem (problem, n. 5); = key-move, n.
   4. forced move 1847–
      In a game, one rendered inevitable by the action of the adversary or the position of the piece. Cf. forced put, force-put, n.
   5. key-move 1847–
      The first move in the solution of a problem (problem, n. 5); = key, n.¹ A.II.7.
   6. fianchetto 1848–
      The development of a bishop by moving it one square to a long diagonal of the board.
   7. half-move 1860–
      A single move by White or Black (as distinct from a full move, one by each side) during the course of a game, esp. as described in a chess puzzle…
   8. queening 1860–
      The action of queening (a pawn). See queen, v. 2.
   9. pinning 1900–
      Chess. The action of trapping an opposing piece so that it cannot be moved without exposing a more valuable piece to capture. Cf. pin, v.¹ 7b.
   10. mutate 1922–
       Chess. A problem beginning from a block (a position in which Black, though not under threat, cannot move without being mated by White), in which…
   11. valve 1930–
       Chess. (See quot. 1930.)
   12. zwischenzug 1941–
       An interim or temporizing move.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈtsvɪʃəntsuːk/

####

##### 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.

## Frequency

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

zwischenzug 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 zwischenzug, n., 1960–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1960 | 0.0002
1970 | 0.0002
1980 | 0.0002
1990 | 0.0002
2000 | 0.0002
2010 | 0.0003

zwischenzug, n. was first published in 1986; not fully revised.

zwischenzug, n. was last modified in December 2024.