zirconiumnoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zirconium mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zirconium. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun zirconium?
| 1810 | 0.021 |
| 1820 | 0.027 |
| 1830 | 0.03 |
| 1840 | 0.036 |
| 1850 | 0.045 |
| 1860 | 0.064 |
| 1870 | 0.083 |
| 1880 | 0.11 |
| 1890 | 0.15 |
| 1900 | 0.26 |
| 1910 | 0.35 |
| 1920 | 0.5 |
| 1930 | 0.87 |
| 1940 | 1.2 |
| 1950 | 1.2 |
| 1960 | 1.2 |
| 1970 | 1.1 |
| 1980 | 0.8 |
| 1990 | 0.53 |
| 2000 | 0.47 |
| 2010 | 0.4 |
How is the noun zirconium pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun zirconium come from?
Earliest known use
1800s
The earliest known use of the noun zirconium is in the 1800s.
OED's earliest evidence for zirconium is from 1808, in the writing of Humphry Davy, chemist and inventor.
zirconium is formed within English, by derivation.
Etymons: zircon n., ‑ium suffix.
Nearby entries
- zircaloy, n.1953–
- zircon, n.1794–
- zirconate, n.1820–
- zircon blue, n. & adj.1928–
- zircon earth, n.1794–
- zirconia, n.1794–
- zirconian, adj.1802–
- zirconic, adj.1804–
- zirconite, n.1806–
- zirconitic, adj.1883–
- zirconium, n.1808–
- zircon-like, adj.1857–
- zircono-, comb. form
- zirconolite, n.1957–
- zircon-syenite, n.1813–
- zirconyl, n.1887–
- zirkelite, n.1895–
- zit, n.1912–
- zit cream, n.1968–
- zitella, n.a1660–
- zit-face, n.1974–
Etymology
Summary
Notes
Meaning & use
- 1808–A hard lustrous grey metallic chemical element, atomic no. 40, which is one of the transition metals, occurs chiefly in zircon, and is used as a coating for nuclear fuel rods, in corrosion-resistant alloys, etc. Symbol Zr.
- 1808
Had I been so fortunate as to have..procured the metallic substances I was in search of, I should have proposed for them the names of silicium, alumium, zirconium, and glucium.
H. Davy in Philosophical Transactions (Royal Society) vol. 98 353 - 1812
No substance has as yet been formed..in which zirconum can be supposed to exist free from oxygene.
H. Davy, Elements of Chemical Philosophy 361 - 1868
Zirconium..is a tetrad metal.
H. B. Jones & H. Watts, Fownes's Manual of Elementary Chemistry 382 - 1955
In its ores zirconium is invariably accompanied by hafnium, which absorbs neutrons all too readily.
Scientific American October 35 - 1995
Unfortunately zirconium tugs hard on the purse strings, at about £3.5 million a tonne.
New Scientist 23 December 47/1
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
- 1800szirconum
- 1800s–zirconium
Frequency
zirconium typically occurs about 0.7 times per million words in modern written English.
zirconium is in frequency band 4, which contains words occurring between 0.1 and 1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency of zirconium, 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 | 0.021 |
| 1820 | 0.027 |
| 1830 | 0.03 |
| 1840 | 0.036 |
| 1850 | 0.045 |
| 1860 | 0.064 |
| 1870 | 0.083 |
| 1880 | 0.11 |
| 1890 | 0.15 |
| 1900 | 0.26 |
| 1910 | 0.35 |
| 1920 | 0.5 |
| 1930 | 0.87 |
| 1940 | 1.2 |
| 1950 | 1.2 |
| 1960 | 1.2 |
| 1970 | 1.1 |
| 1980 | 0.8 |
| 1990 | 0.53 |
| 2000 | 0.47 |
| 2010 | 0.4 |
Frequency of zirconium, n., 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 | 0.088 |
| 2018 | 0.083 |
| 2019 | 0.081 |
| 2020 | 0.07 |
| 2021 | 0.076 |
| 2022 | 0.08 |
| 2023 | 0.084 |
| 2024 | 0.086 |
Compounds & derived words
- zirconian, adj. 1802–Of, relating to, or containing zircon or…
- Zr, n. 1814–The element zirconium.
- zircaloy, n. 1953–Any of several alloys of zirconium with tin and…
- Forming words denoting compounds, molecules…
- 1858–In general use as a modifier.
- 1858
Zirconium salts are believed to be sesqui-salts.
A. B. Northcote & A. H. Church, Manual Qualitative Chem. Analysis i. vi. 106 - 1868
Zirconium Oxide..is prepared by strongly igniting zircon.
H. B. Jones & H. Watts, Fownes's Manual of Elementary Chemistry (ed. 10) 382 - 1906
The osmium, tantalum, and zirconium incandescent filaments of electric glow-lamps.
Athenæum 1 September 245/3 - 1995
Picture the catalyst as a large pair of jaws with a zirconium metal atom sitting in the center.
Science News 14 January 23/2 - 2004
Silver lactate has been used in anti-dandruff shampoos, and zirconium lactate makes a good antiperspirant.
J. Emsley, Vanity, Vitality, & Virility (2006) i. 13