zoobenthos, n.

zoobenthos
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoobenthos_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2017

# zoobenthosnoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zoobenthos mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zoobenthos. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the noun zoobenthos?

About 0.02occurrences per million words in modern written English

1930 | 0.0026
1940 | 0.0063
1950 | 0.012
1960 | 0.014
1970 | 0.018
1980 | 0.022
1990 | 0.025
2000 | 0.029
2010 | 0.03

### How is the noun zoobenthos pronounced?

#### British English

/ˌzuːə(ʊ)ˈbɛnθɒs/
zoo-oh-BEN-thoss
/ˌzəʊə(ʊ)ˈbɛnθɒs/
zoh-oh-BEN-thoss

#### U.S. English

/ˌzoʊəˈbɛnˌθɑs/
zoh-uh-BEN-thahss
/ˌzuəˈbɛnˌθɑs/
zoo-uh-BEN-thahss

### Where does the noun zoobenthos come from?

Earliest known use

1920s

The earliest known use of the noun zoobenthos is in the 1920s.

OED's earliest evidence for zoobenthos is from 1923, in the Glasgow Herald.

### Nearby entries

1. zonoplacental, adj. 1879–
2. zonular, adj. 1835–
3. zonule, n. 1828–
4. zonulet, n. 1648
5. zonure, n. 1883–
6. zoo, n. 1835–
7. zoo-, comb. form
8. zooarchaeological, adj. 1962–
9. zooarchaeologist, n. 1957–
10. zooarchaeology, n. 1967–
11. zoobenthos, n.1923–
12. zoocarp, n. 1824–88
13. zoocaulon, n. 1881–
14. zoocentric, adj. 1882–
15. zoochemical, adj. & n. 1844–
16. zoochemistry, n. 1835–
17. zoochlorella, n. 1882–
18. zoochore, n. 1904–
19. zoochorous, adj. 1904–
20. zoochory, n. 1921–
21. zoo-crazy, adj. 1938–

## Etymology

Compare German Zoobenthos (1908 or earlier).

## Meaning & use

1. 1923–
   The aquatic fauna of the region at or near the bottom of the sea; the animal component of the benthic community.
   1. 1923

      > [Mr James Chumley] continued his discussion of the animals of the ocean and dealt with the bottom-living fauna, or zoobenthos.

      Glasgow Herald 19 March 6
   2. 1964

      > Other organisms listed include zooplankton, phytobenthos, zoobenthos, and fishes.

      Oceanography & Marine Biology vol. 2 127 (caption)
   3. 2015

      > The zoobenthos is often differentiated on the basis of feeding types.

      R. Darnell, American Sea x. 158
   ecology
   1. colonist 1839–
      Biology. A (species of) plant, animal, or other organism that spreads, or has spread, into a new area, esp. one which is among the first to become…
   2. benthos 1891–
      Haeckel's name for the flora and fauna at or near the bottom of the sea. So abyssal benthos, plants and animals of the deep sea; littoral benthos…
   3. land form 1897–
      A kind (of living organism) found on land.
   4. heterotroph 1900–
      Any organism which requires an external supply of energy contained in complex organic compounds to maintain its existence.
   5. autotroph 1901–
      An autotrophic organism (see autotrophic, adj. 1). Also as adj.
   6. epibenthos 1902–
      The flora and fauna living at or near the bottom of any body of water, spec. on the surface of the bottom.
   7. specialist 1902–
      Ecology. A species which is closely adapted to certain environmental conditions or a particular ecological niche.
   8. microaerophile 1903–
      A microorganism that requires less oxygen than that of the atmosphere for optimal growth.
   9. nitrifier 1903–
      An organism which produces nitrites or nitrates; a soil containing such organisms.
   10. consumer 1904–
       Ecology. An organism that derives the organic compounds it needs from the consumption of other organisms; a heterotroph. Contrast producer, n. II.6.
   11. nitrogen fixer 1904–
       An organism which brings about nitrogen fixation.
   12. producer 1904–
       Ecology. An organism that produces organic compounds from simple substances such as water, carbon dioxide, or nitrogen; an autotroph. Frequently…
   13. indicator 1906–
       Ecology. A group of plants or animals whose presence acts as a sign of particular environmental conditions. Also attributive.
   14. psychrophile 1906–
       A psychrophilic organism.
   15. thermophil 1909–
       A thermophil organism.
   16. zoobenthos 1923–
       The aquatic fauna of the region at or near the bottom of the sea; the animal component of the benthic community.
   17. sulfuretum 1925–
       An ecological community of organisms, mainly consisting of sulfur bacteria, which metabolizes sulfur compounds in a closed subcycle of the larger…
   18. influent 1926–
       Ecology. An organism which affects the ecological balance of a plant or animal community.
   19. halobiont 1928–
       An organism that lives in a saline habitat.
   20. halophile 1928–
       Ecology. An organism which grows in or can tolerate saline conditions.
   21. mesophile 1928–
       A mesophilic organism.
   22. oligosaprobe 1931–
       An oligosaprobic organism.
   23. saprobe 1932–
       Any organism that derives its nourishment from decaying organic matter.
   24. eurytope 1938–
       A eurytopic organism.
   25. stenotope 1938–
       A stenotopic organism.
   26. photoautotroph 1939–
       An autotrophic organism which uses light as an energy source.
   27. chemoautotroph 1943–
       A chemoautotrophic organism.
   28. prototroph 1946–
       A prototrophic microorganism (see prototrophic, adj. 2).
   29. mixotrophy 1948–
       Mixotrophic nutrition; the state or condition of being mixotrophic.
   30. chemolithoautotroph 1949–
       A chemolithoautotrophic organism.
   31. auxotroph 1950–
       A mutant bacterium, fungus, etc., which has an additional nutritional requirement compared with the original strain; a naturally occurring…
   32. chemoheterotroph 1951–
       A chemoheterotrophic organism.
   33. chemoorganotroph 1953–
       A chemoorganotrophic organism.
   34. chemolithotroph 1955–
       A chemolithotrophic organism.
   35. chemotroph 1958–
       A chemotrophic organism.
   36. osmophile 1961–
       An osmophilic microorganism. Cf. osmophilic, adj.¹
   37. psychrotroph 1963–
       A psychrotrophic organism.
   38. saprotroph 1963–
       An organism that feeds on or derives nourishment from decaying organic matter; = saprobe, n.
   39. generalist 1964–
       Ecology. A species (esp. an animal) that can tolerate a wide variety of food sources, habitats, or climates. Contrasted with specialist, n. A.4.
   40. opportunist 1967–
       Ecology. An opportunistic species (cf. opportunistic, adj. 2).
   41. cryophile 1970–
       A cryophilic organism. Also in extended or humorous use: a person or organism that prefers a colder climate or environment.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˌzuːə(ʊ)ˈbɛnθɒs/
zoo-oh-BEN-thoss
/ˌzəʊə(ʊ)ˈbɛnθɒs/
zoh-oh-BEN-thoss

### U.S. English

/ˌzoʊəˈbɛnˌθɑs/
zoh-uh-BEN-thahss
/ˌzuəˈbɛnˌθɑs/
zoo-uh-BEN-thahss

####

##### 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

zoobenthos typically occurs about 0.02 times per million words in modern written English.

zoobenthos 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 zoobenthos, n., 1930–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1930 | 0.0026
1940 | 0.0063
1950 | 0.012
1960 | 0.014
1970 | 0.018
1980 | 0.022
1990 | 0.025
2000 | 0.029
2010 | 0.03

Originally published as part of the entry for zoo-, comb. form

zoo-, comb. form was revised in June 2017.