zabra, n.

zabra
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zabra_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1921; not fully revised

# zabranoun

## Earlier version

- zabra in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zabra mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zabra. 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 zabra?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1750 | 0.061
1760 | 0.049
1770 | 0.041
1780 | 0.035
1790 | 0.02
1800 | 0.019
1810 | 0.0014
1820 | 0.0016
1830 | 0.0025
1840 | 0.0028
1850 | 0.003
1860 | 0.0036
1870 | 0.004
1880 | 0.0033
1890 | 0.0048
1900 | 0.0042
1910 | 0.0043
1920 | 0.0045
1930 | 0.005
1940 | 0.0052
1950 | 0.0054
1960 | 0.0041
1970 | 0.0039
1980 | 0.0038
1990 | 0.0037
2000 | 0.0028
2010 | 0.002

### How is the noun zabra pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈθabra/
/ˈzɑːbrə/

### Where does the noun zabra come from?

Earliest known use

early 1500s

The earliest known use of the noun zabra is in the early 1500s.

OED's earliest evidence for zabra is from 1523, in the writing of T. Wolsey.

zabra is a borrowing from Spanish.

### Nearby entries

1. 900 number, n. 1977–
2. 911, n. 1968–
3. 999, n. 1937–
4. Z, n. Old English–
5. 'Z, adj.
6. za, n. 1968–
7. zaatar, n. 1917–
8. zabaglione, n. 1899–
9. zabernism, n. 1916–21
10. zabernize, v. 1914
11. zabra, n.1523–
12. zabuton, n. 1879–
13. zac, n. 1898–
14. 'zackly | 'zactly, adv. 1886–
15. zad, n. 1669–
16. Zadokite, n. & adj. 1910–
17. zadruga, n. 1887–
18. zaffre | zaffer, n. 1662–
19. zaftig, adj. 1921–
20. zafu, n. 1965–
21. zag, n., adv., & v. 1793–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Spanish.
Spanish.

## Meaning & use

1. 1523–
   A small vessel used off the coasts of Spain and Portugal.
   1. 1523

      > That the Emperour..do sende also 2 zabres of the portage of 30 or 40 ton a pece.

      T. Wolsey in State Papers Henry VIII (1849) vol. VI. 118
   2. 1588

      > The Zabra Augusta, of 166 tunnes.

      D. Archdeacon, translation of True Disc. Armie King of Spaine 19
   3. 1589

      > Of Gallions, Hulkes, Pataches, Zabres, Galeasses, and Gallies 130.

      R. Greene, Spanish Masquerado sig. D2v
   4. 1607

      > Our Galeons, Galeasses, Zabraes, Gallies.

      T. Dekker, Whore of Babylon sig. H4
   5. 1860

      > Of the tenders and zabras, seventeen were lost.

      J. L. Motley, History of United Netherlands vol. II. xix. 507
   6. 1867

      > Zumbra, a Spanish skiff or yawl.

      W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher, Sailor's Word-book
   nautical
   1. zabra 1523–
      A small vessel used off the coasts of Spain and Portugal.
   2. bean-cod 1769
      A bean-pod; also applied to a kind of river boat in use in Portugal.
   3. mulet 1867
      A type of Portuguese sailing ship. rare.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈθabra/
/ˈzɑːbrə/

####

##### 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.

## Forms

### Variant forms

Also 1500s zabre, azabra, 1800s zumbra.

## Frequency

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

zabra 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 zabra, n., 1750–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1750 | 0.061
1760 | 0.049
1770 | 0.041
1780 | 0.035
1790 | 0.02
1800 | 0.019
1810 | 0.0014
1820 | 0.0016
1830 | 0.0025
1840 | 0.0028
1850 | 0.003
1860 | 0.0036
1870 | 0.004
1880 | 0.0033
1890 | 0.0048
1900 | 0.0042
1910 | 0.0043
1920 | 0.0045
1930 | 0.005
1940 | 0.0052
1950 | 0.0054
1960 | 0.0041
1970 | 0.0039
1980 | 0.0038
1990 | 0.0037
2000 | 0.0028
2010 | 0.002

zabra, n. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.

zabra, n. was last modified in December 2024.