Origin uncertain.Probably a reduplication (with variation of initial consonant) of suitn.; compare earlier killer-dillern.Compare zootn.…
Origin uncertain.Probably a reduplication (with variation of initial consonant) of suitn.; compare earlier killer-dillern.Compare zootn.
Notes
An alternative derivation is noted by R. S. Gold Jazz Lexicon (1964) 351–2 who records that ‘according to jazzman Zutty Singleton, the term [zoot] was New Orleans patois for “cute”’, which is said to have had some currency c1925–45, but no evidence is given to support this assertion. An interjection zoot, used to express encouragement shouted by fans to jive musicians as they perform, or (more generally) to express recognition, agreement, or satisfaction, is recorded in some U.S. slang dictionaries, e.g. H. Wentworth & S. B. Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang (ed. 2, 1975) 595/1, as having some limited currency among jazz fans c1935–40, but again without supporting evidence.
Meaning & use
Originally U.S.slang.
1.
1942–
A man’s suit of an exaggerated style, characterized by a long, loose jacket with padded shoulders and high-waisted tapering trousers.
The zoot suit was popular in the United States in the 1940s, esp. among African American, Hispanic, and Italian communities.
1942
I want a Zoot Suit with a reat pleat, with a drape shape.
R. Gilbert & B. O'Brien, Zoot Suit (song) 3
1951
Next thing we know, one of these ‘hepcats’ will probably trade his kimono for a zuit suit.
Pacific Stars & Stripes (Tokyo) 29 May 2/4
1969
Chavez became a pachuco, affecting a zoot suit with pegged pants.
Time 14 July 16/2
1984
Baggy zoot suits and skinhead styles have revived the adult market.
Guardian 5 October 3/1
2004
The audience was largely groovers in zoot suits with pencil moustaches.
Chiefly Militaryslang. Any of various kinds of clothing for the whole body, as a set of overalls, a flying suit, etc.
1942
Wearing ‘zoot’ suits, the name given newly perfected sniper suits.
Evening Democrat (Fort Madison, Iowa) 17 July 5/6
1945
Zoot suit (which, of course, came originally from U.S. jive slang) for the crude civilian clothes given to discharged servicemen.
S. J. Baker, Australian Language 158
1952
The warm ‘tank suits’..were soon known to the troops as ‘zoot suits’, and were aptly described as a ‘mass of zip-fasteners joined together by windproof and waterproof material’.
D. Clarke, Eleventh at War xvii. 416
1984
Her hands grew sweaty on the stick, and she wiped first one, then the other, on the baggy pants of her zoot suit.
J. Dailey, Silver Wings, Santiago Blue iv. 70
2010
The WASPs spent much of their training time wearing ‘zoot suits’—army issue mechanics' overalls.
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.
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.
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
1900s–
zoot suit, zuit suit
Frequency
zoot suit typically occurs about 0.06 times per million words in modern written English.
zoot suit 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 zoot suit, n., 1940–2010
* 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
1940
0.035
1950
0.036
1960
0.043
1970
0.049
1980
0.053
1990
0.058
2000
0.066
2010
0.072
Frequency of zoot suit, 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.