Zantedeschia, n.

zantedeschia
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zantedeschia_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 2010

# Zantedeschianoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun Zantedeschia mean?

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

### How common is the noun Zantedeschia?

About 0.02occurrences per million words in modern written English

1830 | 0.0011
1840 | 0.0008
1850 | 0.0007
1860 | 0.0007
1870 | 0.001
1880 | 0.0009
1890 | 0.002
1900 | 0.0038
1910 | 0.0058
1920 | 0.0087
1930 | 0.01
1940 | 0.012
1950 | 0.015
1960 | 0.017
1970 | 0.018
1980 | 0.018
1990 | 0.018
2000 | 0.019
2010 | 0.019

### How is the noun Zantedeschia pronounced?

#### British English

/zantəˈdɛʃiə/
zan-tuh-DESH-ee-uh

#### U.S. English

/ˌzæn(t)əˈdɛʃiə/
zan-tuh-DESH-ee-uh

### Where does the noun Zantedeschia come from?

Earliest known use

1830s

The earliest known use of the noun Zantedeschia is in the 1830s.

OED's earliest evidence for Zantedeschia is from 1836, in the writing of John Lindley, botanist and horticulturist.

Zantedeschia is a borrowing from Latin.

Etymons: Latin Zantedeschia.

### Nearby entries

1. zampogna, n. 1740–
2. zampone, n. 1860–
3. zamzawed, adj. 1743–
4. Zamzummim, n. 1530–
5. Zande, n. 1873–
6. zander, n. 1854–
7. zanella, n. 1876–
8. zanily, adv. 1936–
9. zaniness, n. 1933–
10. Zante, n. 1615–
11. Zantedeschia, n.1836–
12. ZANU, n. 1963–
13. zany, n. & adj. 1582–
14. zany, v. 1602–1894
15. zanyish, adj. 1843–
16. zanyism, n. 1823–
17. zanyship, n. 1766–1839
18. Zanzibari, n. & adj. 1882–
19. zap, n. 1968–
20. zap, v. 1942–
21. zap, int. 1929–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Latin.
Etymon: Latin Zantedeschia.
< scientific Latin Zantedeschia, genus name (K. P. J. Sprengel Linnaeus' Systema vegetabilium (ed. 16, 1826) vol. III. 756, 765) < the name of Giovanni Zantedeschi, Italian physician and botanist (1773–1806) + ‑ia ‑ia suffix1.

## Meaning & use

1. 1836–
   A genus of African plants of the family Araceae, comprising rhizomatous perennials with showy lily-like flowers of various colours. Also: (in form zantedeschia) a plant of this genus, esp. Z. aethiopica, the arum or calla lily.
   Formerly placed in a genus Richardia (cf. Richardia n.2).
   1. 1836

      > Richardia, Kth. Zantedeschia, Spr.

      J. Lindley, Natural System of Botany (ed. 2) 364/3
   2. 1883

      > He follows him in the consequent restoration of Sprengel's name, Zandeteschia, for the ‘Calla lily’ (Richardia Aethiopica) and its congeners.

      Science 11 May 405/1
   3. 1917

      > When grown for the flowers only, zantedeschias may be planted out permanently on a bench, using very rich soil and giving an abundance of water while growing.

      Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture vol. VI. 3534
   4. 1960

      > Vascular system in monocotyledon leaves... C, D, arrangement of vascular bundles as seen in cross sections of midveins (C) and petiole (D) of Zantedeschia leaf.

      K. Esau, Anatomy of Seed Plants xviii. 263 (caption)
   5. 2008

      > The glamorous calla lilies (zantedeschia, which come in shades from black, through orange, to white) tend to prefer damp conditions.

      Times (Nexis) 20 April 38

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zantəˈdɛʃiə/
zan-tuh-DESH-ee-uh

### U.S. English

/ˌzæn(t)əˈdɛʃiə/
zan-tuh-DESH-ee-uh

####

##### 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

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

Zantedeschia 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 Zantedeschia, n., 1830–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1830 | 0.0011
1840 | 0.0008
1850 | 0.0007
1860 | 0.0007
1870 | 0.001
1880 | 0.0009
1890 | 0.002
1900 | 0.0038
1910 | 0.0058
1920 | 0.0087
1930 | 0.01
1940 | 0.012
1950 | 0.015
1960 | 0.017
1970 | 0.018
1980 | 0.018
1990 | 0.018
2000 | 0.019
2010 | 0.019

Zantedeschia, n. was first published in June 2010.

Zantedeschia, n. was last modified in July 2023.