zayatnoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zayat mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zayat. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
Entry status
OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.
How common is the noun zayat?
| 1820 | 0.2 |
| 1830 | 0.17 |
| 1840 | 0.15 |
| 1850 | 0.14 |
| 1860 | 0.13 |
| 1870 | 0.11 |
| 1880 | 0.084 |
| 1890 | 0.041 |
| 1900 | 0.034 |
| 1910 | 0.026 |
| 1920 | 0.013 |
| 1930 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 0.009 |
| 1950 | 0.007 |
| 1960 | 0.0047 |
| 1970 | 0.0048 |
| 1980 | 0.0047 |
| 1990 | 0.0044 |
| 2000 | 0.004 |
| 2010 | 0.0043 |
How is the noun zayat pronounced?
British English
Where does the noun zayat come from?
Earliest known use
1820s
The earliest known use of the noun zayat is in the 1820s.
OED's earliest evidence for zayat is from 1823, in the writing of A. H. Judson.
zayat is a borrowing from Burmese.
Nearby entries
- zari, n.1969–
- zariba, n.1849–
- zariba, v.1885–
- zarnich, n.1612–
- Zarp, n.1895–
- zarzuela, n.1888–
- zat, n.1934–
- zatch, n.1950–
- zawiya, n.1836–
- zawn, n.1865–
- zayat, n.1823–
- zayde, n.1946–
- zazen, n.1727–
- zazzy, adj.1961–
- Z band, n.1950–
- ZBB, n.1976–
- Z-bed, n.1973–
- Z-car, n.1961–
- Z-day, n.1925–
- Z-DNA, n.1979–
- ze, pron.1864–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1823–A public hall or shed for worship, meetings, or shelter.
- 1823
The Zayat, the Burman name for a place for public worship, was erected.
A. H. Judson, Account Amer. Baptist Mission Burman Empire 145 - 1852
In April 1819 the first zayat was opened for Christian worship.
H. W. Pierson, American Missionary Mem. 89 - 1906
They went straight to the zayat, the strangers' rest-house.
Blackwood's Magazine August 230/2
- hallOld English–A large room or building used for public meetings or assemblies, court sessions, social gatherings, etc.
- school?a1425–1601A public building or place of assembly. Obsolete.
- common house1537–1675A building belonging or open to the public, a public building. Obsolete.
- basilica1541–Ancient History. Literally and originally, a royal palace; thence, a large oblong building or hall, with double colonnades and a semicircular apse at…
- public house1560–A building belonging or open to the community at large; a building for public use, a public building. Now rare and with allusion to sense 2.
- public building1561–A building used by the public for any purpose, such as assembly, education, entertainment, or worship.
- state house1593A splendid building used for state ceremonies (figurative in quot. 1593.). Obsolete.
- prytaneum1673–In extended use: a large public building; a place where people of note are assembled. Also figurative.
- house of call1699–(a) A house where journeymen of a particular trade assemble, where carriers call for commissions, or where a person may be heard of or contacted (now…
- basilic1728–= basilica, n. 1.
- zayat1823–A public hall or shed for worship, meetings, or shelter.
- civic centre1867–The centre of a city, municipality, etc., esp. as a focal point for local government and civic amenities; (in later use) spec. a purpose-built…
- jong1904–A Tibetan building (also, a territorial and administrative division) constituting a prefecture, frequently also serving as a fortress, a…
Pronunciation
British 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.
Frequency
zayat typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zayat 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 of zayat, n., 1820–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1820 | 0.2 |
| 1830 | 0.17 |
| 1840 | 0.15 |
| 1850 | 0.14 |
| 1860 | 0.13 |
| 1870 | 0.11 |
| 1880 | 0.084 |
| 1890 | 0.041 |
| 1900 | 0.034 |
| 1910 | 0.026 |
| 1920 | 0.013 |
| 1930 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 0.009 |
| 1950 | 0.007 |
| 1960 | 0.0047 |
| 1970 | 0.0048 |
| 1980 | 0.0047 |
| 1990 | 0.0044 |
| 2000 | 0.004 |
| 2010 | 0.0043 |