zosteropsnoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zosterops mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zosterops. 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 noun zosterops?
| 1860 | 0.0007 |
| 1870 | 0.0007 |
| 1880 | 0.0006 |
| 1890 | 0.0005 |
| 1900 | 0.0006 |
| 1910 | 0.0005 |
| 1920 | 0.0006 |
| 1930 | 0.0007 |
| 1940 | 0.0006 |
| 1950 | 0.0007 |
| 1960 | 0.0008 |
| 1970 | 0.0007 |
| 1980 | 0.0006 |
| 1990 | 0.0004 |
| 2000 | 0.0004 |
| 2010 | 0.0004 |
How is the noun zosterops pronounced?
British English
Where does the noun zosterops come from?
Earliest known use
1860s
The earliest known use of the noun zosterops is in the 1860s.
OED's earliest evidence for zosterops is from 1867, in the writing of A. L. Adams.
zosterops is a borrowing from Latin.
Nearby entries
- Zoroastrian, adj. & n.1597–
- Zoroastrianism, n.1832–
- Zoroastrianize, v.1891–
- Zoroastric, adj.a1739–
- Zoroastrism, n.1819–
- zorrino, n.1885–
- zorro, n.1838–
- zos-grass, n.1937–
- zoster, n.1601–
- zostera, n.1819–
- zosterops, n.1867–
- Zouave, n.1848–
- zouk, n.1986–
- zounds, v.1680
- zounds, int.a1593–
- Zou-Zou, n.1860–
- zowie, int.1902–
- zoysia, n.1965–
- ZPG, n.1970–
- Zr, n.1814–
- zubr, n.1763–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1867–Any of the small birds of the genus so named, widely distributed chiefly in tropical and subtropical regions, and characterized by a ring of white feathers round the eye; a silver-eye or white-eye.
- 1867
That beautiful warbler the yellow zosterops, known by the white downy ring round the eye.
A. L. Adams, Wanderings of Naturalist in India 71 - 1909
It is interesting to watch a Zosterops operating on a pear.
Blackwood's Magazine August 204/2
the world animals birds order Passeriformes (singing) arboreal families [nouns] family Zosteropidae genus Zosterops (white-eye)- white-eye1837–Any of numerous Old World songbirds of the genus Zosterops and certain other genera of the family Zosteropidae, having greenish upperparts with a…
- zosterops1867–Any of the small birds of the genus so named, widely distributed chiefly in tropical and subtropical regions, and characterized by a ring of white…
- blight-bird1870–An early settlers' name for a bird belonging to the Australian genus Zosterops.
- ringeye1871–Australian and New Zealand. An Australasian white-eye of the genus Zosterops (family Zosteropidae); esp. the grey-backed white-eye (or silvereye), Z.…
- wax-eye1874–= silver-eye, n.; cf. zosterops, n.
- greeny1890–Australian. Any predominantly green bird, esp. a silvereye of the western subspecies Zosterops lateralis gouldi. Also: (colloquial) a frog.
Pronunciation
British 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.
Frequency
zosterops typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zosterops is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency of zosterops, n., 1860–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1860 | 0.0007 |
| 1870 | 0.0007 |
| 1880 | 0.0006 |
| 1890 | 0.0005 |
| 1900 | 0.0006 |
| 1910 | 0.0005 |
| 1920 | 0.0006 |
| 1930 | 0.0007 |
| 1940 | 0.0006 |
| 1950 | 0.0007 |
| 1960 | 0.0008 |
| 1970 | 0.0007 |
| 1980 | 0.0006 |
| 1990 | 0.0004 |
| 2000 | 0.0004 |
| 2010 | 0.0004 |