zeroable, adj.

zeroable
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zeroable_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zeroableadjective

## Earlier version

- zeroable, a. in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective zeroable mean?

There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the adjective zeroable. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

zeroable has developed meanings and uses in subjects including

measurement (1950s) grammar (1960s)

### How common is the adjective zeroable?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1950 | 0.0024
1960 | 0.0023
1970 | 0.0019
1980 | 0.0017
1990 | 0.0019
2000 | 0.0021
2010 | 0.0021

### How is the adjective zeroable pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɪərəʊəbl/
ZEER-oh-uh-buhl

#### U.S. English

/ˈzɪroʊəb(ə)l/
ZEER-oh-uh-buhl
/ˈziroʊəb(ə)l/
ZEER-oh-uh-buhl

### Where does the adjective zeroable come from?

Earliest known use

1950s

The earliest known use of the adjective zeroable is in the 1950s.

OED's earliest evidence for zeroable is from 1956, in U.S. Patents.

zeroable is formed within English, by derivation.

Etymons: zero n., zero v., ‑able suffix.

### Nearby entries

1. Zeppelinist, n. 1912–
2. Zeppelinistic, adj. 1930–
3. Zeppelinite, n. 1909–
4. zeppole, n. 1835–
5. zepto-, comb. form
6. zeranol, n. 1971–
7. zerda, n. 1780–1860
8. zerk, n. 1926–
9. zero, n. & adj. 1604–
10. zero, v. 1813–
11. zeroable, adj.1956–
12. zero balance, adj. 1974–
13. zero-base, adj. 1962–
14. zero-based, adj. 1963–
15. zero beat, n. 1920–
16. zero-carbon, adj. 1990–
17. zero-coupon, adj. 1979–
18. zero creep, n. 1904–
19. zero crossing, n. 1941–
20. zero day, n. 1917–
21. zero-defect, adj. 1964–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by derivation.
Etymons: zero n., zero v., ‑able suffix.
Partly < zero n. + ‑able suffix,

and partly < zero v. + ‑able suffix.

## Meaning & use

1. 1.
   1956–
   Of an instrument or device: capable of being adjusted to give a zero reading, esp. for the purposes of calibration.
   1. 1956

      > To render said device zeroable upon proper adjustment of said tap.

      U.S. Patent 2,762,976 8
   2. 1974

      > A zeroable offset counter system is provided which makes it easy for the operator to measure the angular error between the ground reference face and the crystallographic planes.

      Physics Bulletin August 349/1
   3. 2003

      > 11-amp router features a precision-machined motor, 8 slotted collets, adjustable motor cam lock and zeroable scale.

      Daily Republican Reg. (Mt. Carmel, Illinois) 25 November (Advertising Supplement) f3/1
   measurement
   1. graduated 1806–
      Marked with lines to indicate degrees, grades, or quantities.
   2. self-recording 1838–
      Designating a measuring instrument which automatically produces a record of readings obtained.
   3. recording 1857–
      Of a measuring instrument: able to produce a record of readings obtained.
   4. centre-zero 1879–
      Designating a scale (as on a measuring instrument) on which zero is the centre value, thus enabling both positive and negative values to be…
   5. scaled 1900–
      Provided or furnished with a graduated scale.
   6. zeroable 1956–
      Of an instrument or device: capable of being adjusted to give a zero reading, esp. for the purposes of calibration.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
2. 2.
   1965–
   Linguistics. That may be omitted from a sentence without loss of meaning.
   Frequently in or with reference to the works of the U.S. linguist Zellig Harris (1909–92).
   1. 1965

      > Metaphorical and idiomatic objects are not pronounable or zeroable.

      Z. S. Harris in Language vol. 41 395
   2. 1982

      > It is only after the metalinguistic last sentence is added that the second boys is zeroable.

      Z. Harris in L. J. Cohen et al., Logic, Methodol. & Philos. Sci. VI 632
   3. 2010

      > All anaphoric and epiphoric reference is handled by the same sort of zeroable metalinguistic sameness statement.

      B. Nevin in D. A. Kibbee, Chomskyan (R) evolutions i. 146
   grammar
   1. zeroable 1965–
      Linguistics. That may be omitted from a sentence without loss of meaning.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɪərəʊəbl/
ZEER-oh-uh-buhl

### U.S. English

/ˈzɪroʊəb(ə)l/
ZEER-oh-uh-buhl
/ˈziroʊəb(ə)l/
ZEER-oh-uh-buhl

####

##### 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

## Frequency

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

zeroable 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 zeroable, adj., 1950–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1950 | 0.0024
1960 | 0.0023
1970 | 0.0019
1980 | 0.0017
1990 | 0.0019
2000 | 0.0021
2010 | 0.0021

zeroable, adj. was revised in June 2018.

zeroable, adj. was last modified in July 2023.