zygaena, n.

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

# zygaenanoun

## Earlier version

- zygæna in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zygaena mean?

There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun zygaena. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, 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 noun zygaena?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1760 | 0.0013
1770 | 0.001
1780 | 0.0009
1790 | 0.0013
1800 | 0.0005
1810 | 0.0007
1820 | 0.0008
1830 | 0.0019
1840 | 0.0027
1850 | 0.0026
1860 | 0.0024
1870 | 0.0025
1880 | 0.0026
1890 | 0.0028
1900 | 0.0023
1910 | 0.0021
1920 | 0.0027
1930 | 0.0032
1940 | 0.0038
1950 | 0.0041
1960 | 0.0043
1970 | 0.0041
1980 | 0.0039
1990 | 0.0038
2000 | 0.0036
2010 | 0.0031

### How is the noun zygaena pronounced?

#### British English

/zʌɪˈdʒiːnə/

### Where does the noun zygaena come from?

Earliest known use

early 1700s

The earliest known use of the noun zygaena is in the early 1700s.

OED's earliest evidence for zygaena is from 1717, in the writing of Thomas Robinson, natural philosopher.

zygaena is a borrowing from Latin.

### Nearby entries

1. zwieback, n. 1894–
2. zwieselite, n. 1861–
3. Zwinglian, n. & adj. 1532–
4. Zwinglianism, n. 1581–
5. Zwinglianist, n. 1673–1759
6. zwischenzug, n. 1941–
7. zwitterion, n. 1906–
8. zwitterionic, adj. 1946–
9. Zydeco, n. 1949–
10. zygadite, n. 1861–
11. zygaena, n.1717–
12. zygaenid, n. & adj. 1913–
13. zygaenidan, n. 1837–
14. zygal, adj. 1886–
15. zygantrum, n. 1854–
16. zygapophysial, adj. 1870–
17. zygapophysis, n. 1854–
18. zygite, n. 1888–
19. zygnemaceous, adj.
20. zygnemid, n. 1887–
21. zygnomic, adj. 1926–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Latin.
modern Latin, < Greek ζύγαινα a kind of fish, perhaps the hammer-headed shark.

## Meaning & use

Zoology.

1. 1. a.
      1717–
      Ichthyology. A fish of the genus formerly so named (now Sphyrna), comprising the hammerheaded sharks.
      1. 1717

         > The Zygæna or Ballance Fish, as large as the Saw Fish.

         T. Robinson in Philosophical Transactions 1714–16 (Royal Society) vol. 29 479
      2. 1774

         > The Dog Fish,..the Zygæna, the Tope, the Cat Fish.

         O. Goldsmith, History of Earth vol. VI. 236
      fish
      1. balance-fish 1717–
         The hammer-headed shark (Squalus zygæna).
      2. zygaena 1717–
         Ichthyology. A fish of the genus formerly so named (now Sphyrna), comprising the hammerheaded sharks.
      3. slipper 1796–
         The hammerhead shark.
      4. hammer-head 1861–
         A hammer-headed shark; so called from the great lateral expansions of the head.
      5. bonnethead 1879–
         (More fully bonnethead shark) a small hammerhead shark, Sphyrna tiburo, found mainly in the western Atlantic and having a relatively narrow, rounded…
      View in Historical Thesaurus
   2. b.
      Entomology. A genus of moths (also called Anthrocera), comprising the burnet-moths.
      insects

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zʌɪˈdʒiːnə/

####

##### 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.

## Forms

### Variant forms

Also Zygæna.

## Frequency

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

zygaena 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 zygaena, n., 1760–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1760 | 0.0013
1770 | 0.001
1780 | 0.0009
1790 | 0.0013
1800 | 0.0005
1810 | 0.0007
1820 | 0.0008
1830 | 0.0019
1840 | 0.0027
1850 | 0.0026
1860 | 0.0024
1870 | 0.0025
1880 | 0.0026
1890 | 0.0028
1900 | 0.0023
1910 | 0.0021
1920 | 0.0027
1930 | 0.0032
1940 | 0.0038
1950 | 0.0041
1960 | 0.0043
1970 | 0.0041
1980 | 0.0039
1990 | 0.0038
2000 | 0.0036
2010 | 0.0031

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zygaenidan, n. 1837–
   = zygaenid, n.

1. zygaenid, n. & adj. 1913–
   a. n. A member of the family Zygænidæ, typified…

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

zygaena, n. was last modified in December 2024.