zaftigadjective
Factsheet
What does the adjective zaftig mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the adjective zaftig. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
This word is used in North American English.
How common is the adjective zaftig?
| 1920 | 0.0005 |
| 1930 | 0.0007 |
| 1940 | 0.0012 |
| 1950 | 0.0023 |
| 1960 | 0.004 |
| 1970 | 0.0064 |
| 1980 | 0.0086 |
| 1990 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 0.012 |
| 2010 | 0.014 |
How is the adjective zaftig pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the adjective zaftig come from?
Earliest known use
1920s
The earliest known use of the adjective zaftig is in the 1920s.
OED's earliest evidence for zaftig is from 1921, in Broadway Brevities.
zaftig is a borrowing from Yiddish.
Etymons: Yiddish zaftik.
Nearby entries
- zabernism, n.1916–21
- zabernize, v.1914
- zabra, n.1523–
- zabuton, n.1879–
- zac, n.1898–
- 'zackly | 'zactly, adv.1886–
- zad, n.1669–
- Zadokite, n. & adj.1910–
- zadruga, n.1887–
- zaffre | zaffer, n.1662–
- zaftig, adj.1921–
- zafu, n.1965–
- zag, n., adv., & v.1793–
- zagaie | zagaye, n.1590–1698
- Zaghlulist, n. & adj.1921–
- zaguan, n.1851–
- Zahal, n.1959–
- zaibatsu, n.1937–
- Zaidi, n.1709–
- zaikai, n.1968–
- zaim, n.1807–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1921–Of a woman: having a full, rounded figure; plump.
- 1921
Isn't Diana Allen getting very zoftig?
Broadway Brevities December 20 - 1967
‘And see how zoftik she is.’ Mrs. Green felt pleased she had spotted someone over-weight.
P. Welles, Babyhip (1969) xxiv. 139 - 1981
Zaftig Dolly Parton..once described herself as looking like a ‘hooker with a heart of gold’.
Gossip (Holiday Special) 11/2 - 2009
The waitress, a zaftig girl with a funny combination of bangs and retro cat–woman glasses topping her sweet bored expression, scurried right over.
J. Lethem, Chronic City x. 175
- wally?a1513–Used as an indefinite term of admiration: handsome, fine, excellent. Also (a) (of people and animals): bonny, plump; thriving; (b) (of things)…
- buxom1589–Full of health, vigour, and good temper; well-favoured, plump and comely, ‘jolly’, comfortable-looking (in person). (Chiefly of women.)
- sonsy1720–Of a person: attractive, pleasant, or cheerful in appearance; healthy-looking, hearty; spec. (of a woman) comely, attractive; buxom, plump. Also…
- buxom-looking1840–
- tisty-tosty1888–attributive or adj. Round like a cowslip-ball; plump and comely.
- zaftig1921–Of a woman: having a full, rounded figure; plump.
the world life the body bodily shape or physique broad shape or physique [adjectives] fat or plump of a woman- buxom1589–Full of health, vigour, and good temper; well-favoured, plump and comely, ‘jolly’, comfortable-looking (in person). (Chiefly of women.)
- matronlya1660–Resembling a matron, esp. (in later use) in being rather staid or stout.
- buxom-looking1840–
- zaftig1921–Of a woman: having a full, rounded figure; plump.
- curvaceous1933–Of a woman or a woman's figure, physique, etc.: having an attractively curved shape. Later also occasionally applied to men.
- curvesome1933–Full of curves, curvy; spec. (of a woman or a woman's figure) having an attractively curved shape; = curvaceous, adj. 1.
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
Forms
Variant forms
- 1900s–zaftic, zaftick, zaftig, zaftik, zoftick, zoftig, zoftik
Frequency
zaftig typically occurs about 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zaftig is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency of zaftig, adj., 1920–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1920 | 0.0005 |
| 1930 | 0.0007 |
| 1940 | 0.0012 |
| 1950 | 0.0023 |
| 1960 | 0.004 |
| 1970 | 0.0064 |
| 1980 | 0.0086 |
| 1990 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 0.012 |
| 2010 | 0.014 |