zoomannoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zooman mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zooman. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun zooman?
| 1870 | 0.0005 |
| 1880 | 0.0004 |
| 1890 | 0.0006 |
| 1900 | 0.0006 |
| 1910 | 0.0008 |
| 1920 | 0.0014 |
| 1930 | 0.0019 |
| 1940 | 0.0024 |
| 1950 | 0.0027 |
| 1960 | 0.0029 |
| 1970 | 0.003 |
| 1980 | 0.003 |
| 1990 | 0.0028 |
| 2000 | 0.0025 |
| 2010 | 0.0022 |
Where does the noun zooman come from?
Earliest known use
1870s
The earliest known use of the noun zooman is in the 1870s.
OED's earliest evidence for zooman is from 1871, in Fun.
Nearby entries
- zoologist, n.1663–
- zoologize, v.1830–
- zoologizing, n.1815–
- zoology, n.1663–
- zoom, n.1917–
- zoom, v.¹1886–
- Zoom, v.²2014–
- zoom, int.1856–
- zoomable, adj.1972–
- zoomagnetism, n.1824–
- zooman, n.1871–
- zoomancy, n.1888–
- zoomania, n.1807–
- zoomantist, n.1861
- Zoomar, n.1946–
- zoomechanical, adj.1897
- zoomechanics, n.1888–1903
- zoomelanin, n.1858–
- zoometric, adj.1892–
- zoometry, n.1878–
- zooming, n.1892–
Meaning & use
- 1871–A person (esp. a man) who works in, manages, or is associated with a zoo; a male zookeeper; an animal handler.
- 1871
Inhuman Zoomen... The members of the Zoological Society.
Fun 7 January 13/2 - 1973
The increasing value of the Yearbook to zoomen and biologists.
Times Literary Supplement 9 March 262/4 - 2006
The late English zooman Gerald Durrell.
Sydney Morning Herald 9 August 22
- menagerist1850–A keeper of a menagerie.
- zooman1871–A person (esp. a man) who works in, manages, or is associated with a zoo; a male zookeeper; an animal handler.
- zookeeper1886–A person responsible for taking care of the animals in a zoo; (sometimes also) the owner, director, or person in overall charge of a zoo.
- zoowoman1930–A woman who works in, manages, or is associated with a zoo; a female zookeeper or animal handler.
Frequency
zooman typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zooman 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 of zooman, n., 1870–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1870 | 0.0005 |
| 1880 | 0.0004 |
| 1890 | 0.0006 |
| 1900 | 0.0006 |
| 1910 | 0.0008 |
| 1920 | 0.0014 |
| 1930 | 0.0019 |
| 1940 | 0.0024 |
| 1950 | 0.0027 |
| 1960 | 0.0029 |
| 1970 | 0.003 |
| 1980 | 0.003 |
| 1990 | 0.0028 |
| 2000 | 0.0025 |
| 2010 | 0.0022 |