zincverb
Factsheet
What does the verb zinc mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the verb zinc. 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 verb zinc?
| 1830 | 0.059 |
| 1840 | 0.069 |
| 1850 | 0.077 |
| 1860 | 0.091 |
| 1870 | 0.11 |
| 1880 | 0.14 |
| 1890 | 0.17 |
| 1900 | 0.2 |
| 1910 | 0.21 |
| 1920 | 0.23 |
| 1930 | 0.22 |
| 1940 | 0.21 |
| 1950 | 0.19 |
| 1960 | 0.19 |
| 1970 | 0.16 |
| 1980 | 0.14 |
| 1990 | 0.13 |
| 2000 | 0.12 |
| 2010 | 0.11 |
How is the verb zinc pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the verb zinc come from?
Earliest known use
1840s
The earliest known use of the verb zinc is in the 1840s.
OED's only evidence for zinc is from 1843, in Pract. Mechanic & Engineer's Magazine.
It is also recorded as a noun from the mid 1600s.
zinc is formed within English, by conversion.
Etymons: zinc n.
Nearby entries
- zillionth, n. & adj.1940–
- zimb, n.1790–
- Zimba, n.1625–
- Zimbabwe, n.1891–
- Zimbabwean, adj. & n.1961–
- zimbel, n.1888–
- zimme, n.1848–63
- Zimmer, n.1951–
- zina, n.1817–
- zinc, n.1651–
- zinc, v.1843–
- zinc-air, adj.1970–
- Zincala, n.1844–91
- Zincalo, n.1841–
- zinc-alum, n.1851–
- zinc-amide, n.1859–
- zincate, n.1872–
- zinc-blende, n.1842–
- zinc-bloom, n.1842–
- zinc chloride, n.1851–
- zinc chromate, n.1851–
Etymology
Meaning & use
- 1843–trans. To cover or coat with zinc or some compound of zinc (esp. ironwork, as a preservative from rust); to treat with zinc, add zinc to.
- 1843
These processes enable us to zinc in an economical manner, iron, steel [etc.].
Pract. Mechanic & Engineer's Magazine vol. 2 342
society occupation and work industry working with specific materials working with metal [transitive verbs] work with metal coat or cover with metal with specific metal- tin1398–transitive. To cover with a thin deposit of tin; to coat or plate with tin.
- leadc1440–To cover with lead. Also with over.
- ironc1450–transitive. To fit, furnish, or cover (an object) with iron. Frequently in passive.
- lay1472–To re-steel (a cutting instrument). dialect.
- copper1530–transitive. To cover with copper; to sheathe the bottom and sides of a ship with copper.
- braze1552–transitive. To make of brass; to cover or ornament with brass.
- silverize1605–transitive. To silver; to treat with a preparation of silver; to render silvery in colour.
- foliate1665–transitive. To foil (glass); to silver.
- plate1686–transitive. To cover (something) with a thin coating of film of metal, esp. of gold or silver. Also figurative.
- whiten1687–1800transitive. To coat or plate with tin; = tin, v. 1. Obsolete.
- foil1714–1818transitive. To apply foil or a foil to. To apply an amalgam of tinfoil and mercury to (glass, a mirror). See foil, n.¹ 4b. Obsolete.
- blanch1729To make (metals) white: in Alchemy by ‘albation,’ or ‘albification’; in technical use, to tin.
- quicken1738–transitive. To treat, coat, or mix with mercury. Cf. quicksilver, v., quick, v.³
- amalgam1789–1923transitive. To coat or cover with amalgam. Cf. amalgamed, adj. Obsolete.
- quick1790–transitive. To coat (metal or a metal object) with mercury or a solution containing mercury so as to facilitate the adherence of a gold or silver…
- aluminize1791–transitive. To treat or impregnate with alum.
- plate1791–transitive. To fix or deposit (a thin coating or film of metal) on or upon a surface; to deposit as a coating, esp. electrolytically.
- zincify1801–trans. To coat or impregnate with zinc.
- amalgamize1803–79transitive. To coat or cover with amalgam. Cf. amalgam, v. 1d. Obsolete.
- platinize1825–transitive. To coat or plate with platinum.
- resilver1832–transitive. To silver again; to replate with silver; to recoat (a mirror) with a reflective metallic film. Also intransitive.
- galvanize1839–To cover with a coating of metal by means of galvanic electricity. Commonly but incorrectly applied to the coating of iron with zinc to protect it…
- electrocopper1843–transitive to coat (an article, metal, etc.) with copper by electroplating.
- electroplate1843–transitive and intransitive. To coat (an article or material) with a metal (spec. silver) by electrolysis. Also: to apply (a coating) in this way…
- zinc1843–trans. To cover or coat with zinc or some compound of zinc (esp. ironwork, as a preservative from rust); to treat with zinc, add zinc to.
- electro-silver1851–transitive. To coat with silver by electrolysis.
- platinate1858–transitive. = platinize, v. (usually in passive).
- electrotin1859–transitive. To coat (an article, metal, etc.) with tin by electroplating.
- white-lead1863–transitive. To cover, impregnate, or treat with white lead (white lead, n. 1).
- palladiumize1864transitive. To coat, treat, or combine with palladium.
- white-metal1864–transitive. To coat or line with white metal (alloy); to cover over with white metal.
- brassc1865–transitive. To coat with brass by electro-plating or otherwise.
- nickelize1865–transitive. To coat with nickel or with a nickel alloy.
- nickel-plate1872–transitive. To coat with a thin layer of nickel.
- nickel1875–transitive. To plate with nickel or with a nickel alloy.
- stopper1884–Metallurgy. (See quot. 1884.) Also with down.
- electro1891transitive. = electroplate, v.
- sherardize1904–transitive. To coat (iron or steel articles) with zinc by heating in contact with zinc dust at a temperature below the melting point of zinc.
- steel1911–transitive. To overlay, point or edge with steel. Often in passive to be (well) steeled.
- stellite1934–transitive to coat with Stellite.
- flame-plate1954–
- steel-face1961–(transitive).
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.
Forms
Variant forms
Inflected zinced, zin(c)ked /zɪŋkt/ , zincing, zin(c)king /ˈzɪŋkɪŋ/ .Frequency
zinc typically occurs about 0.1 times per million words in modern written English.
zinc 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 zinc, v., 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 | 0.059 |
| 1840 | 0.069 |
| 1850 | 0.077 |
| 1860 | 0.091 |
| 1870 | 0.11 |
| 1880 | 0.14 |
| 1890 | 0.17 |
| 1900 | 0.2 |
| 1910 | 0.21 |
| 1920 | 0.23 |
| 1930 | 0.22 |
| 1940 | 0.21 |
| 1950 | 0.19 |
| 1960 | 0.19 |
| 1970 | 0.16 |
| 1980 | 0.14 |
| 1990 | 0.13 |
| 2000 | 0.12 |
| 2010 | 0.11 |
Compounds & derived words
- zinced, adj. & n. 1841–
- zincing, adj. & n. 1841–