zoographer, n.

zoographer
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoographer_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2017

# zoographernoun

## Earlier version

- zoographer in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zoographer mean?

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

zoographer has developed meanings and uses in subjects including

animals (mid 1600s) painting (mid 1600s)

### How common is the noun zoographer?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1810 | 0.0018
1820 | 0.0016
1830 | 0.0016
1840 | 0.0014
1850 | 0.0012
1860 | 0.0009
1870 | 0.0004
1880 | 0.0004
1890 | 0.0004
1900 | 0.0004
1910 | 0.0004
1920 | 0.0005
1930 | 0.0004
1940 | 0.0005
1950 | 0.0005
1960 | 0.0005
1970 | 0.0004
1980 | 0.0004
1990 | 0.0003
2000 | 0.0003
2010 | 0.0002

### How is the noun zoographer pronounced?

#### British English

/zuːˈɒɡrəfə/
zoo-OG-ruh-fuh
/zəʊˈɒɡrəfə/
zoh-OG-ruh-fuh

#### U.S. English

/zuˈɑɡrəfər/
zoo-AH-gruh-fuhr
/zoʊˈɑɡrəfər/
zoh-AH-gruh-fuhr

### Where does the noun zoographer come from?

Earliest known use

mid 1600s

The earliest known use of the noun zoographer is in the mid 1600s.

OED's earliest evidence for zoographer is from 1646, in the writing of Sir Thomas Browne, physician and author.

zoographer is formed within English, by compounding.

Etymons: zoo- comb. form, ‑grapher comb. form.

### Nearby entries

1. zoogeological, adj. 1841–
2. zoogeologist, n. 1844–
3. zoogeology, n. 1838–
4. zoogloea, n. 1861–
5. zoogloeal, adj. 1879–
6. zoogloeic, adj. 1883–
7. zoogonic, adj. 1787–
8. zoogonidium, n. 1857–
9. zoogony, n. 1675–
10. zoograph, n. 1623
11. zoographer, n.1646–
12. zoographic, adj. 1741–
13. zoographical, adj. 1651–
14. zoographically, adv. 1835–
15. zoographist, n. 1749–1874
16. zoography, n. 1593–
17. zoogyroscope, n. 1880–
18. zooid, n. 1851–
19. zooid, adj. 1849
20. zooidal, adj. 1858–
21. zooidogamous, adj. 1891–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by compounding.
< zoo- comb. form + ‑grapher comb. form…
< zoo- comb. form + ‑grapher comb. form.

### Notes

In sense 1 after zoography n.
In sense 2 (with reference to a painter or artist in general) after ancient Greek ζωγράϕος person who paints from life or nature, painter (see zoograph n.) and its Hellenistic Greek variant ζῳογράϕος; compare earlier zoograph n.

## Meaning & use

1. 1.
   1646–
   A person who produces descriptions of animals and their characteristics; a descriptive zoologist; (in later use) esp. a zoogeographer. Cf. zoography n. 1.
   1. 1646

      > One kinde of Locust..by Zoographers called mantis.

      Sir T. Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica iv. i. 180
   2. 1688

      > Zoographers observe, That the Camelion has a very uncommon structure of his visive Organs.

      R. Boyle, Disquisition Final Causes ii. 61
   3. 1711

      > Others [sc. animals having only one horn] are mentioned by Zoographers.

      British Apollo 2–5 May
   4. 1735

      > We learn from the Zoographers, that there are some Animals that live on the Land, some in the Water, and others, that..are equally suited either to Land or Water.

      T. Dallowe, translation of H. Boerhaave, Elements of Chemistry vol. I. ii. 41
   5. 1822

      > Our Correspondent..is convinced, by the description which Zoographers give of the stork.

      Morning Post 12 December 3
   6. 1867

      > An accomplished zoographer..to describe the animals.

      Lowell (Massachusetts) Daily Citizen 23 October
   7. 1905

      > It [sc. a snake] was stated to have been collected by his brother at Manila, and to say that the case puzzled the zoographers is to put it mildly.

      Science 24 March 472/2
   8. 1946

      > There is a growing tendency, on the part of many zoographers, to explain the distribution of all life everywhere on the assumption that migration took place.

      T. Barbour, Naturalist's Scrapbook 102
   9. 2010

      > The simile between the bear and the poet presupposes the belief by ancient zoographers that bear fetuses were born shapeless.

      J. Farrell & M. C. J. Putnam, Vergil's Aeneid viii. 110
   animals
   1. zoographer 1646–
      A person who produces descriptions of animals and their characteristics; a descriptive zoologist; (in later use) esp. a zoogeographer. Cf. zoography…
   2. zodiographer 1650
      One who writes about or describes animals.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
2. 2.
   1656–
   A painter or artist who specializes in depictions of animals or living creatures. Also (chiefly with specific allusion to ancient Greek or Latin): a painter or artist in general. Cf. zoography n. 2. Now rare.
   1. 1656

      > Zoographer..a Painter or one that draws the pictures of beasts.

      T. Blount, Glossographia
   2. 1736

      > Zoographer, a Painter of living Creatures.

      Neve's City & Country Purchaser's & Builder's Dictionary (ed. 3)
   3. 1814

      > This very clever artist and zoographer.

      Sporting Magazine vol. 44 66
   4. 1814

      > The earlier writers on art,..who flourished before the age of Trajan and the Antonines, constantly entitle their books on zoographers, on zoography—this was their only usual denomination for painting, as if still life did not merit the name.

      W. Taylor in Monthly Magazine June 406/1
   5. 1855

      > We are willing enough to have the Athenian people painted as the lion..but we object to his adopting the practice of the ancient zoographers, and appending the epigram, ‘This is a lion’.

      Dublin University Magazine April 490/2
   6. 1983

      > A ‘zoographer’, that is to say one who excelled in drawing living beings.

      G. Heard Hamilton, Art & Archit. Russia (ed. 3) 134/2
   7. 1998

      > Confirming the Platonic hierarchy of poiesis (the god, the demiurge, the zoographer—the painter).

      C. Fynsk, translation of P. Lacoue-Labarthe, Typography 87
   painting
   1. zoograph 1623
      = zoographer, n. 2.
   2. zoographer 1656–
      A painter or artist who specializes in depictions of animals or living creatures. Also (chiefly with specific allusion to ancient Greek or Latin)…
   3. zoographist 1749–1874
      A person who produces descriptions of animals and their characteristics; = zoographer, n. 1.
   4. animal painter 1780–
      A painter of animals, as opposed to landscapes, portraits, narrative pictures, etc.
   5. cattleist 1834–
      A cattle-painter.
   6. animalist 1993–
      A painter or sculptor of animals; a writer of animal stories.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. portrayer c1385–
      Originally: a person who paints or draws pictures or portraits. Later also: a person skilled in verbal description, dramatic representation, etc.
   2. portraitour c1405–25
      A person who draws or paints portraits.
   3. zographer 1570
      See quots. and cf. zoographer, n.
   4. picture maker 1589–
   5. imager 1605–
      A producer of flat images or images on surfaces; a painter, photographer, etc.
   6. delineator 1631–
      A person who delineates something (in various senses of delineate, v.). Also figurative.
   7. iconograph 1804
      = iconographer, n.
   8. zoographer 1814–
      A painter or artist who specializes in depictions of animals or living creatures. Also (chiefly with specific allusion to ancient Greek or Latin)…
   9. depicter 1837–
      One who depicts, portrays, or sets forth in words.
   10. iconograph 1884–
       A drawing, engraving, or illustration for a book: = icon, n. 1.
   11. iconographer 1888–
       One who makes figures or drawings of objects.
   12. portrayist 1906–
       A person skilled in portrayal, representation, or description; = portrayer, n.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zuːˈɒɡrəfə/
zoo-OG-ruh-fuh
/zəʊˈɒɡrəfə/
zoh-OG-ruh-fuh

### U.S. English

/zuˈɑɡrəfər/
zoo-AH-gruh-fuhr
/zoʊˈɑɡrəfər/
zoh-AH-gruh-fuhr

####

##### 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

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

zoographer is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 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 zoographer, n., 1810–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1810 | 0.0018
1820 | 0.0016
1830 | 0.0016
1840 | 0.0014
1850 | 0.0012
1860 | 0.0009
1870 | 0.0004
1880 | 0.0004
1890 | 0.0004
1900 | 0.0004
1910 | 0.0004
1920 | 0.0005
1930 | 0.0004
1940 | 0.0005
1950 | 0.0005
1960 | 0.0005
1970 | 0.0004
1980 | 0.0004
1990 | 0.0003
2000 | 0.0003
2010 | 0.0002

zoographer, n. was revised in June 2017.

zoographer, n. was last modified in June 2025.