zoonotic, adj.

zoonotic
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoonotic_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2017

# zoonoticadjective

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective zoonotic mean?

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

### How common is the adjective zoonotic?

About 0.08occurrences per million words in modern written English

1890 | 0.0003
1900 | 0.0002
1910 | 0.0002
1920 | 0.0005
1930 | 0.0028
1940 | 0.0067
1950 | 0.014
1960 | 0.025
1970 | 0.047
1980 | 0.068
1990 | 0.079
2000 | 0.091
2010 | 0.11

### How is the adjective zoonotic pronounced?

#### British English

/ˌzuː(ə)ˈnɒtɪk/
zoo-uh-NOT-ik
/ˌzəʊəˈnɒtɪk/
zoh-uh-NOT-ik

#### U.S. English

/ˌzu(ə)ˈnɑdɪk/
zoo-uh-NAH-dick
/ˌzoʊəˈnɑdɪk/
zoh-uh-NAH-dick

### Where does the adjective zoonotic come from?

Earliest known use

1870s

The earliest known use of the adjective zoonotic is in the 1870s.

OED's earliest evidence for zoonotic is from 1877, in Edinburgh Medical Journal.

zoonotic is formed within English, by derivation.

Etymons: zoonosis n., ‑otic suffix.

### Nearby entries

1. Zoonist, adj. 1890–97
2. zoonite, n. 1838–
3. zoonitic, adj. 1860–91
4. zoonomic, adj. 1836–
5. zoonomical, adj. 1800–
6. zoonomist, n. 1800–99
7. zoonomy, n. 1800–
8. zoonosis, n. 1873–
9. zoonosologist, n. 1860–
10. zoonosology, n. 1845–
11. zoonotic, adj.1877–
12. zoon politikon, n. 1895–
13. zoonters, int. a1763–
14. zoo-organic, adj. 1821–90
15. zoopathologist, n. 1898–
16. zoopathology, n. 1841–
17. zoophagan, n. & adj. 1835–
18. zoophagic, adj. 1903–
19. zoophagous, adj. 1788–
20. zoophagy, n. 1849–
21. zoophile, n. 1885–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by derivation.
< zoonosis n.: see ‑otic suffix.

## Meaning & use

1. 1877–
   Of or relating to a disease which can be transmitted naturally from animals to humans (cf. zoonosis n.). Also: designating such a disease.
   1. 1877

      > Zoonotic diseases, such as hydrophobia and glanders.

      Edinburgh Medical Journal (1878) vol. 23 i. 522
   2. 1884

      > A group of zoonotic inflammations..due..solely to the direct operation of the virus upon the tissues of the skin.

      Journal Cutaneous & Venereal Dis. vol. 2 203
   3. 1907

      > Erysipeloid, a zoönotic affection.., occurs especially in persons whose occupation leads them to handle meat.

      A. R. Edwards, Treat. Princ. & Pract. Medicine i. 107
   4. 1956

      > In searching for explanations of..zoonotic outbreaks, there are limitations in the taxonomic approach which should be borne in mind.

      Nature 3 March 407/2
   5. 1998

      > HIV..appears to have had a zoonotic origin.

      T. C. Quinn & A. S. Fauci in R. M. Krause, Emerging Infections xi. 330
   6. 2013

      > A successful zoonotic pathogen manages to jump from an animal to a person, invades their cells, replicates and then finds a way to transmit to other people.

      Observer 10 November (Tech Monthly Supplement) 14/3
   pathology
   1. zootic 1818–
      Originally: of or relating to animals; spec. designating a disease occurring in animals. In later use: designating a disease which can be transmitted…
   2. zoonotic 1877–
      Of or relating to a disease which can be transmitted naturally from animals to humans (cf. zoonosis, n.). Also: designating such a disease.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˌzuː(ə)ˈnɒtɪk/
zoo-uh-NOT-ik
/ˌzəʊəˈnɒtɪk/
zoh-uh-NOT-ik

### U.S. English

/ˌzu(ə)ˈnɑdɪk/
zoo-uh-NAH-dick
/ˌzoʊəˈnɑdɪk/
zoh-uh-NAH-dick

####

##### 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

## Forms

### Variant forms

1. 1800s–1900s
   zoönotic
2. 1800s–
   zoonotic

## Frequency

zoonotic typically occurs about 0.08 times per million words in modern written English.

zoonotic 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 data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zoonotic, 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 | 0.0003
1900 | 0.0002
1910 | 0.0002
1920 | 0.0005
1930 | 0.0028
1940 | 0.0067
1950 | 0.014
1960 | 0.025
1970 | 0.047
1980 | 0.068
1990 | 0.079
2000 | 0.091
2010 | 0.11

### Frequency of zoonotic, adj., 2017–2024

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Modern frequency series are derived from a corpus of 20 billion words, covering the period from 2017 to the present. The corpus is mainly compiled from online news sources, and covers all major varieties of World English.

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 corpus.

Period | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
2017 | 0.14
2018 | 0.33
2019 | 0.41
2020 | 0.49
2021 | 0.56
2022 | 0.62
2023 | 0.55
2024 | 0.49

Originally published as part of the entry for zoo-, comb. form

zoonotic, adj. was revised in June 2017.

zoonotic, adj. was last modified in March 2025.