Zapotecan, adj. & n.

zapotecan
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zapotecan_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1986; not fully revised

# Zapotecanadjective & noun

## Factsheet

### Where does the word Zapotecan come from?

Earliest known use

1920s

The earliest known use of the word Zapotecan is in the 1920s.

OED's earliest evidence for Zapotecan is from 1922, in the writing of K. Al-Shimas.

### How common is the word Zapotecan?

About 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1920 | 0.042
1930 | 0.037
1940 | 0.034
1950 | 0.031
1960 | 0.024
1970 | 0.018
1980 | 0.013
1990 | 0.01
2000 | 0.009
2010 | 0.0065

### Nearby entries

1. zap, v. 1942–
2. zap, int. 1929–
3. Zapata, n. 1962–
4. zapateado, n. 1845–
5. Zapatism, n. 1911–
6. Zapatismo, n. 1913–
7. Zapatist, n. & adj. 1911–
8. Zapatista, n. & adj. 1911–
9. zapote, n. 1842–
10. Zapotec, n. & adj. 1797–
11. Zapotecan, adj. & n.1922–
12. zappe, v. c1600
13. zapped, adj. 1962–
14. zapper, n. 1969–
15. zapping, n. 1972–
16. zappy, adj. 1969–
17. zaptieh, n. 1869–
18. ZAPU, n. 1961–
19. Zar, n. 1868–
20. Zarathustrian, adj. & n. 1859–
21. Zarathustrianism, n. 1864–

## Meaning & use

1. 1922–
   See Zapotec n. & adj.
   Stressed as Zapoˈtecan.
   1. 1922

      > The Zapotecan tongue is spoken by at least 500,000 souls.

      K. Al-Shimas, Mexican Southland vii. 122
   2. 1922

      > Those accosted made answer in Zapotecan.

      K. Al-Shimas, Mexican Southland vii. 126
   3. 1962

      > Rhythmic and Zapotecan-proud the classic women dance.

      E. Birney, Ice Cod Bell or Stone 54
   4. 1978

      > In the Zapotecan family of Oaxaca, ‘Choapan Zapotec phonology’, by Larry and Rosemary Lyman..employs ‘a hierarchically oriented framework’ of five levels, from phoneme to ‘phonological sentence’.

      Language 506/2
   1. Mixtecan 1787–
      = Mixtec, adj.
   2. Otomi 1843–
      Of, relating to, or designating the Otomi or their language.
   3. Trique 1891–
      Of or pertaining to this people or their language.
   4. Mazatec 1892–
      Of or relating to the Mazatecs or their language.
   5. Otomian 1911–
      Of, relating to, or designating this group or its languages.
   6. Zapotecan 1922–
   7. Oto-Manguean 1958–
      Of, relating to, or designating this language family or its languages.
   8. Mazahua 1965–
      Of, relating to, or designating the Mazahuas or their language.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. Chichimeca 1726–
      Of, relating to, or designating the Chichimecas or their languages; = Chichimec, adj.
   2. Aztecan 1787–
      Of, relating to, or characteristic of the Aztecs or their culture. Cf. Aztec, adj.
   3. Miskito 1789
      Of or relating to an Indigenous people living in a coastal region of eastern Nicaragua and north-eastern Honduras.
   4. Chichimec 1811–
      Of, relating to, or designating the Chichimecs or their languages; = Chichimeca, adj.
   5. Nahuatl 1814–
      Of or relating to any of a group of Indigenous peoples of southern Mexico and Central America, or their language.
   6. Quiché 1823–
      Of, relating to, or designating this people or their language.
   7. Aztec 1824–
      Of, relating to, or characteristic of the Aztecs or their culture. Cf. Aztecan, adj. A.1.
   8. Mayo 1829–
      Of, relating to, or designating the Mayo or their language.
   9. Seri 1829–
      Of or pertaining to the Seri or their language.
   10. Otomi 1843–
       Of, relating to, or designating the Otomi or their language.
   11. Mimbres 1856–89
       Of or relating to the Mimbreño Apache people of south-western New Mexico. Esp. in Mimbres Apache. Cf. Mimbreño, adj. Obsolete.
   12. Yaqui 1861–
       Of, pertaining to, or designating the Yaqui.
   13. Zapotec 1861–
       Of or pertaining to the Zapotecs.
   14. Nahuan 1862–
       Of, belonging to, or relating to any of the Nahuan peoples or their languages. Cf. Nahuatl, adj., Aztecan, adj. A.2.
   15. Nahua 1865–
       = Nahuatl, adj.
   16. Tzeltal 1868–
       (A member of) an Indigenous people inhabiting parts of southern Mexico; the Mayan language of this people. Also attributive or as adj.
   17. Yucatecan 1871–
   18. Tlapanec 1874–
       An Indigenous people of south-west Guerrero, Mexico.
   19. Mixtec 1875–
       Of, relating to, or characteristic of the Mixtecs or their languages.
   20. Bribri 1876–
       Of, relating to, or belonging to the Bribri or their language.
   21. Mangue 1876–
       Of or designating the Mangues or their language.
   22. Nahuatlaca 1877–
       = Nahuatl, adj.
   23. Mixe 1888–
       Designating, of, or relating to the Mixe or their languages.
   24. Trique 1891–
       Of or pertaining to this people or their language.
   25. Mazatecan 1892–
       = Mazatec, adj.
   26. Subtiaba 1892–
       Of or relating to the Subtiabas or their language.
   27. Huichol 1900–
       Of or pertaining to this people or their language.
   28. Kuna 1905–
       Of or relating to this people or their language.
   29. Mixteca 1911–
       = Mixtec, adj.
   30. Subtiaban 1911–
       = Subtiaba, adj.
   31. Tarascan 1911–
       Of or pertaining to this people or their language.
   32. Tarahumara 1912–
       Of, pertaining to, or designating this people.
   33. Zapotecan 1922–
   34. Tzotzil 1939–
       (A member of) an Indigenous people inhabiting parts of southern Mexico; the Mayan language of this people. Also attributive or as adj.
   35. Mixe–Zoquean 1940–
       Designating or relating to the Mixe and Zoque peoples of southern Mexico, considered as one group, or their languages.
   36. Tiwa 1950–
       (A member of) a Pueblo people living in the upper Rio Grande valley, comprising the Northern Tiwa (Taos and Picuris), in New Mexico, and the Tigua…
   37. Mixteco 1959–
       = Mixtec, adj.
   38. Kekchi 1960–
       Of or pertaining to the Kekchi or their language.
   39. Uto-Aztecan 1968–
       Of or relating to a family of Indigenous languages of Central America and western North America, including Nahuatl, Shoshone, Hopi, and Paiute…
   40. Uto-Aztec 2022–
       Of or relating to a family of Indigenous languages of Central America and western North America, including Nahuatl, Shoshone, Hopi, and Paiute…
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. Zapotec 1881–
      Any of several dialects or languages of the Zapotecs.
   2. Zapotecan 1922–
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

Zapotecan typically occurs about 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

Zapotecan 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 Zapotecan, adj. & n., 1920–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1920 | 0.042
1930 | 0.037
1940 | 0.034
1950 | 0.031
1960 | 0.024
1970 | 0.018
1980 | 0.013
1990 | 0.01
2000 | 0.009
2010 | 0.0065

Originally published as part of the entry for Zapotec, n. & adj.

Zapotec, n. & adj. was first published in 1986; not fully revised.