zoosporenoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zoospore mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zoospore. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun zoospore?
| 1840 | 0.16 |
| 1850 | 0.2 |
| 1860 | 0.23 |
| 1870 | 0.34 |
| 1880 | 0.38 |
| 1890 | 0.44 |
| 1900 | 0.45 |
| 1910 | 0.48 |
| 1920 | 0.44 |
| 1930 | 0.43 |
| 1940 | 0.43 |
| 1950 | 0.43 |
| 1960 | 0.39 |
| 1970 | 0.35 |
| 1980 | 0.29 |
| 1990 | 0.22 |
| 2000 | 0.19 |
| 2010 | 0.15 |
How is the noun zoospore pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun zoospore come from?
Earliest known use
1840s
The earliest known use of the noun zoospore is in the 1840s.
OED's earliest evidence for zoospore is from 1842, in Annals & Magazine of Natural History.
zoospore is formed within English, by compounding; modelled on a French lexical item.
Etymons: zoo- comb. form, spore n.
Nearby entries
- zoopsychology, n.1847–
- zooscopic, adj.1817–
- zooscopy, n.1891–
- zoosematic, adj.1898–1909
- zoosemiotics, n.1963–
- zoosophy, n.1662–1848
- zoosperm, n.1824–
- zoospermatic, adj.1845–79
- zoosporangiophore, n.1889–
- zoosporangium, n.1862–
- zoospore, n.1842–
- zoosporic, adj.1854–
- zoosporous, adj.1845–
- zoot, n.1942–
- zootaxy, n.1833–
- zootechnic, adj.1861–
- zootechnics, n.1863–
- zootechny, n.1841–
- zootheca, n.1852–
- zoothecium, n.1880–
- zootheism, n.1879–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1842–A motile flagellate spore, as produced by certain algae, fungi, and protozoans. Cf. zoosperm n. 2.macrozoospore, megazoospore, microzoospore, zygozoospore: see the first element.Numerous zoosporic organisms are pathogens causing disease in economically significant plant and animal species.
- 1842
What may be the purpose served in the œconomy of the plant by this motion of zoospores?
Annals & Magazine of Natural History vol. 10 341 - 1858
For the propagation of their kind,..the Confervæ have two different modes; the one being the liberation of moving particles, termed zoospores, from the interior of the cells.
E. Lankester & W. B. Carpenter, Vegetable Physiology (new edition) §767 - 1890
The..zoospores..have swarmed, and escaped, or been emitted from their sporangium, or generative sac.
Journal New York Microsc. Society vol. 6 70 - 1948
The zoospores may also be unusually large.
American Journal of Botany vol. 35 247/1 - 1987
For the great majority of algae the spores, often referred to as zoospores or swarmers, are motile.
R. L. Fletcher, Seaweeds of British Isles vol. III. i. 36 - 2010
You only need a few zoospores to reach potato tubers to suffer significant and damaging blight infections.
Cornish Guardian (Nexis) 14 July 46
the world life biology biological processes procreation or reproduction reproductive substances or cells [nouns] spore- sporule1819–A spore or spore-granule. In Botany.
- zoocarp1824–88A motile spore or single-celled organism, esp. a zoospore.
- zoospore1842–A motile flagellate spore, as produced by certain algae, fungi, and protozoans. Cf. zoosperm, n. 2.
- propagule1858–A portion of a plant, fungus, etc., that is capable, when detached, of giving rise to a new individual by asexual or sexual reproduction (e.g. a leaf…
- swarm-spore1859–
- winter bud1869–Botany. A detachable bud-like organ, typically produced by certain aquatic plants, which functions as a vegetative propagule. Cf. turion, n.…
- macrozoospore1875–
- zygozoospore1881–A zoospore formed by conjugation; a motile zygospore.
- swarm-cell1882–= swarm-spore, n. (a).
- sporangiospore1889–A spore produced in a sporangium.
- planospore1904–A motile spore, a zoospore.
- planont1914–A motile spore, gamete, or zygote; esp. the motile stage of certain microsporidian protozoans or phycomycetes.
the world plants part of plant reproductive part(s) spore or sporule [nouns] type of zoospore or zoosporangium- zoosperm1842–91A zoospore. Cf. sporozoid, n. Obsolete.
- zoospore1842–A motile flagellate spore, as produced by certain algae, fungi, and protozoans. Cf. zoosperm, n. 2.
- zoosporangium1862–A sporangium containing or producing zoospores.
- zoosporangiophore1889–A sporangiophore bearing zoosporangia.
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
Frequency
zoospore typically occurs about 0.2 times per million words in modern written English.
zoospore 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 zoospore, n., 1840–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1840 | 0.16 |
| 1850 | 0.2 |
| 1860 | 0.23 |
| 1870 | 0.34 |
| 1880 | 0.38 |
| 1890 | 0.44 |
| 1900 | 0.45 |
| 1910 | 0.48 |
| 1920 | 0.44 |
| 1930 | 0.43 |
| 1940 | 0.43 |
| 1950 | 0.43 |
| 1960 | 0.39 |
| 1970 | 0.35 |
| 1980 | 0.29 |
| 1990 | 0.22 |
| 2000 | 0.19 |
| 2010 | 0.15 |
Frequency of zoospore, 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 | 0.0011 |
| 2018 | 0.0017 |
| 2019 | 0.0021 |
| 2020 | 0.0021 |
| 2021 | 0.0027 |
| 2022 | 0.0062 |
| 2023 | 0.0069 |
| 2024 | 0.0079 |
Compounds & derived words
- zoosporous, adj. 1845–Producing zoospores; of the nature of, or…
- zoosporic, adj. 1854–Producing zoospores; of the nature of, or…
- macrozoospore, n. 1875–
- microzoospore, n. 1875A relatively small zoospore.
- zygozoospore, n. 1881–A zoospore formed by conjugation; a motile zygospore.
- megazoospore, n. 1889–A relatively large zoospore, esp. produced by…