zoarial, adj.

zoarial
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoarial_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1921; not fully revised

# zoarialadjective

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective zoarial mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the adjective zoarial. 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 adjective zoarial?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1890 | 0.016
1900 | 0.014
1910 | 0.014
1920 | 0.014
1930 | 0.016
1940 | 0.018
1950 | 0.017
1960 | 0.0098
1970 | 0.0087
1980 | 0.0074
1990 | 0.0065
2000 | 0.0046
2010 | 0.0017

### Where does the adjective zoarial come from?

Earliest known use

1890s

The earliest known use of the adjective zoarial is in the 1890s.

OED's only evidence for zoarial is from 1896, in the writing of John Walter Gregory, geologist and explorer.

### Nearby entries

1. -zoa, comb. form
2. -zoan, comb. form
3. zoantharian, adj. & n. 1887–
4. zoanthid, n. 1870–
5. zoanthidan, adj. 1888–
6. zoanthodeme, n. 1877–
7. zoanthoid, adj. 1854–
8. zoanthropic, adj. 1891–
9. zoanthropy, n. 1856–
10. zoanthus, n. 1841–
11. zoarial, adj.1896–
12. zoarium, n. 1880–
13. zob, n. 1911–
14. zocalo, n. 1884–
15. zocco, n. 1664–1723
16. zocle, n. 1704–
17. zoco, n. 1892–
18. zodiac, n. 1390–
19. zodiacal, adj. 1576–
20. zodiac line, n. 1590
21. zodiac ring, n. 1895–

## Meaning & use

Zoology.

1. 1896–
   Pertaining to or constituting a zoarium.
   Stressed as zoˈarial.
   1. 1896

      > In typical Diastopora the zoarium consists of two layers of zoœcia, one on each side of the zoarial lamina.

      J. W. Gregory, Catalogue Fossil Bryozoa Introduction 16
   invertebrates
   1. zoarial 1896–
      Pertaining to or constituting a zoarium.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

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

zoarial 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 zoarial, adj., 1890–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1890 | 0.016
1900 | 0.014
1910 | 0.014
1920 | 0.014
1930 | 0.016
1940 | 0.018
1950 | 0.017
1960 | 0.0098
1970 | 0.0087
1980 | 0.0074
1990 | 0.0065
2000 | 0.0046
2010 | 0.0017

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

zoarium, n. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.