zebra finchnoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zebra finch mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zebra finch. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun zebra finch?
| 1870 | 0.0001 |
| 1880 | 0.0001 |
| 1890 | 0.0002 |
| 1900 | 0.0003 |
| 1910 | 0.0007 |
| 1920 | 0.0012 |
| 1930 | 0.0025 |
| 1940 | 0.0066 |
| 1950 | 0.017 |
| 1960 | 0.027 |
| 1970 | 0.039 |
| 1980 | 0.052 |
| 1990 | 0.06 |
| 2000 | 0.07 |
| 2010 | 0.081 |
How is the noun zebra finch pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun zebra finch come from?
Earliest known use
1860s
The earliest known use of the noun zebra finch is in the 1860s.
OED's earliest evidence for zebra finch is from 1868, in Express (London).
Nearby entries
- zearalanol, n.1966–
- zearalenone, n.1966–
- zeatin, n.1963–
- zeaxanthin, n.1929–
- Zebedist, n.1574
- zebra, n.1597–
- zebra caterpillar, n.1841–
- zebra crossing, n.1934–
- zebra danio, n.1917–
- zebraed, adj.1806–
- zebra finch, n.1868–
- zebrafish, n.1771–
- zebraic, adj.1858–
- zebra marking, n.1854–
- zebra moray, n.1933–
- zebra mule, n.1841–
- zebra mussel, n.1866–
- zebrano, n.1908–
- zebra opossum, n.1808–
- zebra parakeet, n.1856–
- zebra plant, n.1826–
Etymology
Meaning & use
- 1868–A small Australasian waxbill with black and white stripes on the face, Taeniopygia guttata (family Estrildidae), popular as a cage bird.Formerly known as Poephila guttata, and sometimes split into two species.
- 1868
Mr. Underdown, of Adelaide, the exporter of Australian birds to Europe, has now in stock..7,000 pairs of zebra finches.
Express (London) 24 February 2/3 - 1899
The Diamond Sparrow, also an Australian, but inhabiting further south than the Zebra Finch.
W. T. Greene, Cage-birds 59 - 1936
Flocks of the most typical bird of Central Australia, the pretty little zebra finch, with its husky chirp.
C. T. Madigan, Central Australia 103 - 1963
The frequent presence of both adults in the nest by day..has been reported of wild Zebra Finches.
Behaviour vol. 20 170 - 2012
As a mature adult, a zebra finch sings essentially the same song every time.
S. Seung, Connectome xi. 190
the world animals birds order Passeriformes (singing) seed eaters [nouns] family Estrildidae (wax-bill) miscellaneous types of- firefinch1783–Any of various African waxbills of the genus Lagonosticta and related genera (family Estrildidae), the males of which have predominantly red plumage.
- cutthroat1790–A finch native to sub-Saharan Africa and popular as a cage bird, Amadina fasciata (family Estrildidae), having pale brown plumage with black…
- cutthroat sparrow1790–The cutthroat finch, Amadina fasciata, the male of which has a bright red band across the cheeks and throat. Cf. cutthroat, n.² 1, cutthroat finch n.
- redhead1816–Any of various other birds with a red or reddish head, or red markings on the head; esp. (a) British regional the pochard, Aythya ferina; (b) Nort…
- firetail1845–Any of several Australasian waxbills of the genus Stagonopleura and related genera, having predominantly grey plumage with red upper tail coverts…
- fire-tailed finch1845–= firetail, n. A.2.
- cutthroat finch1859–A finch native to sub-Saharan Africa and popular as a cage bird, Amadina fasciata (family Estrildidae), having pale brown plumage with black…
- zebra finch1868–A small Australasian waxbill with black and white stripes on the face, Taeniopygia guttata (family Estrildidae), popular as a cage bird.
- magpie finch1869–An African mannikin of the genus Lonchura, esp. the bronze mannikin, L. cucullata.
- melba finch1876–A small West African songbird, Pytilia melba (family Estrildidae), the male of which has a bright red face and tail, and a yellow breast. Also called…
- zebra1879–The zebra finch, Taeniopygia guttata.
- bluebill1955–Any of several waxbills constituting the genus Spermophaga (family Estrildidae), which are native to sub-Saharan Africa and have thick bluish bills…
- blue-breast2004–a. The bluethroat, Luscinia svecica (now rare); b. the blue-breasted cordon-bleu, Uraeginthus angolensis (family Estrildidae), a waxbill with a pale…
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
Frequency
zebra finch typically occurs about 0.06 times per million words in modern written English.
zebra finch 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 of zebra finch, n., 1870–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1870 | 0.0001 |
| 1880 | 0.0001 |
| 1890 | 0.0002 |
| 1900 | 0.0003 |
| 1910 | 0.0007 |
| 1920 | 0.0012 |
| 1930 | 0.0025 |
| 1940 | 0.0066 |
| 1950 | 0.017 |
| 1960 | 0.027 |
| 1970 | 0.039 |
| 1980 | 0.052 |
| 1990 | 0.06 |
| 2000 | 0.07 |
| 2010 | 0.081 |
Frequency of zebra finch, 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 | 0.022 |
| 2018 | 0.023 |
| 2019 | 0.027 |
| 2020 | 0.029 |
| 2021 | 0.028 |
| 2022 | 0.028 |
| 2023 | 0.028 |
| 2024 | 0.023 |