zygodactylous, adj.

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

# zygodactylousadjective

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective zygodactylous mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the adjective zygodactylous. 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 adjective zygodactylous?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1830 | 0.0016
1840 | 0.0018
1850 | 0.002
1860 | 0.0021
1870 | 0.0022
1880 | 0.0018
1890 | 0.0018
1900 | 0.0016
1910 | 0.0015
1920 | 0.0013
1930 | 0.0011
1940 | 0.0012
1950 | 0.0015
1960 | 0.0016
1970 | 0.0017
1980 | 0.0015
1990 | 0.0016
2000 | 0.0016
2010 | 0.0016

### Where does the adjective zygodactylous come from?

Earliest known use

1820s

The earliest known use of the adjective zygodactylous is in the 1820s.

OED's earliest evidence for zygodactylous is from around 1828–32, in a dictionary by Noah Webster, lexicographer.

### Nearby entries

1. zygite, n. 1888–
2. zygnemaceous, adj.
3. zygnemid, n. 1887–
4. zygnomic, adj. 1926–
5. zygo-, comb. form
6. zygobranchiate, adj. 1883–
7. zygocactus, n. 1950–
8. zygocardiac, adj. 1877–
9. zygodactyl, adj. & n. 1831–
10. zygodactylic, adj. 1835–
11. zygodactylous, adj.1828–
12. zygodont, adj. 1888–
13. zygogenesis, n. 1950–
14. zygology, n. 1970–
15. zygoma, n. 1684–
16. zygomatic, adj. & n. 1712–
17. zygomatico-, comb. form
18. zygomato-, comb. form
19. zygomere, n. 1966–
20. zygomorphic, adj. 1875–
21. zygomorphism, n. 1875–

## Meaning & use

Ornithology.

1. 1828–
   See zygodactyl adj.
   Stressed as zygoˈdactylous.
   1. 1828–32

      > Zygodactylous.

      N. Webster, American Dictionary of English Language
   2. 1890
      [see zygodactyl adj. A].
   birds
   1. zygodactylous 1828–
   2. yoke-toed 1831–
      Having toes arranged so that two point forward and two point backward; cf. zygodactylous, adj.
   3. zygodactyl 1831–
      Having the toes ‘yoked’ or arranged in pairs, i.e. two before and two behind, as the feet of a scansorial bird, or the bird itself; yoke-toed.
   4. anisodactylic 1834–
      Unequal-toed (said of those insessorial birds called by Temminck Anisodactyles).
   5. zygodactylic 1835–
   6. lark-heeled 1837–
      (See quots.)
   7. short-toed 1837–
      Having short toes; esp. in short-toed lark, any of various larks of the genera Calandrella and Spizocorys, which comprise small gregarious birds…
   8. heterodactylous 1854–
      Having the toes, or one of them, irregular or abnormal, as certain families of birds (Ogilvie, 1882).
   9. pair-toed 1868–
      (Of a bird) having the toes in pairs, two in front and two behind; zygodactylous.
   10. sympelmous 1885–
       Having the tendons of the deep flexors of the toes united before separating to each of the four digits.
   11. pamprodactylous 1889–
       Of a bird's foot: having all the toes pointing forward.
   12. pigeon-toed 1890
       Ornithology. Of a bird: having feet similar to those of pigeons, with the hind toe inserted at the same level as the other toes. Cf. peristeropod…
   13. pamprodactyl 1934–
       = pamprodactylous, adj.
   14. synpelmous
       Bad form of sympelmous (see sym-, prefix).
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

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

zygodactylous 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 zygodactylous, adj., 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 | 0.0016
1840 | 0.0018
1850 | 0.002
1860 | 0.0021
1870 | 0.0022
1880 | 0.0018
1890 | 0.0018
1900 | 0.0016
1910 | 0.0015
1920 | 0.0013
1930 | 0.0011
1940 | 0.0012
1950 | 0.0015
1960 | 0.0016
1970 | 0.0017
1980 | 0.0015
1990 | 0.0016
2000 | 0.0016
2010 | 0.0016

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

zygodactyl, adj. & n. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.