zooxanthellate, adj. & n.

zooxanthellate
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zooxanthellate_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 2016

# zooxanthellateadjective & noun

## Factsheet

### What does the word zooxanthellate mean?

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

### How common is the word zooxanthellate?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1980 | 0.0074
1990 | 0.0074
2000 | 0.0074
2010 | 0.0074

### Where does the word zooxanthellate come from?

Earliest known use

1980s

The earliest known use of the word zooxanthellate is in the 1980s.

OED's earliest evidence for zooxanthellate is from 1981, in the writing of B. R. Rosen.

### Nearby entries

1. zootoxin, n. 1906–
2. zootrophy, n. 1877–
3. zoot suit, n. 1942–
4. zoot-suited, adj. 1942–
5. zoot-suiter, n. 1942–
6. zooty, adj. 1942–
7. zootype, n. 1883–
8. zootypic, adj. 1853–
9. zoowoman, n. 1930–
10. zooxanthella, n. 1882–
11. zooxanthellate, adj. & n.1981–
12. zooxanthin, n. 1868–
13. zoozygosphere, n. 1880–
14. zope, n. 1880–
15. zophoric, adj. 1728–
16. zophorus | zoophorus, n. 1563–
17. zopilote, n. 1787–
18. zopissa, n. 1601–
19. zoppa, adj. 1740–
20. Zoque, n. 1891–
21. Zoque–Mixe, adj. & n. 1893–

## Meaning & use

Biology.

1. 1981–
   a. n.A coral that possesses symbiotic zooxanthellae; b. adj.designating corals that possess symbiotic zooxanthellae; of or relating to zooxanthellae.
   Stressed as zooxanˈthellate.
   1. 1981

      > It will be more convenient and precise from here onwards to refer to the two groups [of scleractinian corals] as zooxanthellates and non-zooxanthellates respectively.

      B. R. Rosen in P. L. Forey, Evolving Biosphere ix. 106/2
   2. 1981

      > An important feature of the separation of zooxanthellate distribution into two realms is that there is a great disparity in their diversity.

      B. R. Rosen in P. L. Forey, Evolving Biosphere ix. 107/2
   3. 1986

      > How water clarity influences zonation of zooxanthellate corals.

      Palaios vol. 1 391 (caption)
   4. 2008

      > There are 13 species of scleractinian corals recorded in the study region (two zooxanthellates and 11 azooxanthellates).

      H. Reyes-Bonilla et al. in G. D. Danemann & E. Ezcurra, Bahía de los Ángeles x. 314
   life sciences

## Frequency

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

zooxanthellate 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 data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zooxanthellate, adj. & n., 1980–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1980 | 0.0074
1990 | 0.0074
2000 | 0.0074
2010 | 0.0074

Originally published as part of the entry for zooxanthella, n.

zooxanthellate, adj. & n. was first published in 2016.