zetetical, adj. & n.

zetetical
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zetetical_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zeteticaladjective & noun

## Factsheet

### What does the word zetetical mean?

There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the word zetetical. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How is the word zetetical pronounced?

#### British English

/zᵻˈtɛtᵻkl/
zuh-TET-uh-kuhl

#### U.S. English

/zəˈtɛdək(ə)l/
zuh-TED-uh-kuhl

### Where does the word zetetical come from?

Earliest known use

mid 1600s

The earliest known use of the word zetetical is in the mid 1600s.

OED's earliest evidence for zetetical is from 1646, in a letter by J. Pell.

zetetical is a borrowing from Latin, combined with an English element.

Etymons: Latin zeteticus, ‑al suffix1.

### Nearby entries

1. zestfully, adv. 1843–
2. zestiness, n. 1912–
3. zesty, adj. 1826–
4. zeta, n.¹?a1425–
5. zeta, n.² 1706–1860
6. zetacism, n. 1860–
7. zeta function, n. 1879–
8. zeta-ic, adj. 1840–1927
9. zeta potential, n. 1927–
10. zetetic, adj. & n. 1645–
11. zetetical, adj. & n.1646–
12. zetetically, adv. 1665–
13. Zetetical Society, n. 1881–
14. zetetics, n. 1843–
15. Zetland, n. 1577–
16. Zetlander, n. 1614–
17. Zetlandic, adj. 1701–
18. zetta-, comb. form
19. Zeuglodon, n. 1839–
20. zeuglodont, n. & adj. 1850–
21. zeuglodontoid, adj. & n. 1891

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Latin, combined with an English element.
Etymons: Latin zeteticus, ‑al suffix1.
< post-classical Latin zeteticus zetetic adj. + ‑al suffix1.

Compare slightly earlier zetetic adj.

## Meaning & use

1. adjective
   1. 1646–
      Inquiring, investigating; proceeding by inquiry or investigation; = zetetic adj.
      1. 1646

         > A Zeteticall Logista cares not to know what R.T. a or b signify.

         J. Pell, Letter 25 January in John Pell & his Correspondence with Charles Cavendish (2005) 454
      2. 1873

         > By strict deduction, by a purely zetetical process,..the peculiarity of the Bedford signals is explained.

         J. Naylor, Bedford Canal Not Convex 13
      3. 1915

         > We should have thought that a biographer's primary duty was to be zetetical—that is, to proceed by inquiry.

         Athenæum 6 February 126/2
      4. 2009

         > Montaigne's novelty of style shows..a desire to remove any illusion of certainty in a pure, endless zetetical searching.

         V. R. Rosaleny in J. R. M. Neto et al., Skepticism Modern Age i. 66
      1. perquiring 1598
         Inquisitive, inquiring. Obsolete.
      2. exploratory 1620–
         Of or relating to exploration; connected with investigation or searching.
      3. zetetic 1645–
         Inquiring, investigating; proceeding by inquiry or investigation.
      4. zetetical 1646–
         Inquiring, investigating; proceeding by inquiry or investigation; = zetetic, adj.
      5. disquisitive 1647–
         Characterized by or given to disquisition; given to research or investigation; inquiring.
      6. probing 1749–
         That probes; piercing, penetrating; inquisitive.
      7. disquisitorial 1806–
         Of or belonging to a disquisitor; investigating; inquiring.
      8. investigating 1830–
         That investigates a person or thing (in various senses of the verb); esp. that is charged with conducting a systematic or formal investigation…
      9. disquisitory 1860–
         = disquisitorial, adj.
      10. perusing 1878–
          Designating a person or thing given to reading.
      11. pickbrain 1903–
          a. n. A person who picks another's brains; b. adj. (attributive), that picks one's brains.
      View in Historical Thesaurus
2. noun
   1. 1882–
      Chiefly with the. Short for Zetetical Society n.
      1. 1882

         > 8 p.m. Zetetical: ‘Vivisection,’ by Mrs. Anna Kingsford.

         Academy 7 January 11/3
      2. 1905

         > After about a year of the Zetetical I joined the Dialectical.

         G. B. Shaw, Letter 3 January (1972) vol. II. 486
      3. 2000

         > In the days of the Zetetical, Sidney showed neither the clearness nor the coolness that Shaw retrospectively attributed to him.

         R. Harrison, Life & Times S. & B. Webb i. i. 24

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zᵻˈtɛtᵻkl/
zuh-TET-uh-kuhl

### U.S. English

/zəˈtɛdək(ə)l/
zuh-TED-uh-kuhl

####

##### 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

## Forms

### Variant forms

1. 1600s
   zeteticall
2. 1800s–
   zetetical

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zetetically, adv. 1665–
   By way of inquiry or investigation.

1. Zetetical Society, n. 1881–
   (The name of) a free-thinking society founded in…

Originally published as part of the entry for zetetic, adj. & n.

zetetical, adj. & n. was revised in June 2018.

zetetical, adj. & n. was last modified in July 2023.