zimbelnoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zimbel mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zimbel. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun zimbel?
| 1880 | 0.0002 |
| 1890 | 0.0002 |
| 1900 | 0.0002 |
| 1910 | 0.0002 |
| 1920 | 0.0002 |
| 1930 | 0.0002 |
| 1940 | 0.0002 |
| 1950 | 0.0003 |
| 1960 | 0.0003 |
| 1970 | 0.0002 |
| 1980 | 0.0002 |
| 1990 | 0.0002 |
| 2000 | 0.0001 |
| 2010 | 0.0001 |
How is the noun zimbel pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun zimbel come from?
Earliest known use
1880s
The earliest known use of the noun zimbel is in the 1880s.
OED's earliest evidence for zimbel is from 1888, in the Musical World.
zimbel is a borrowing from German.
Etymons: German Zimbel.
Nearby entries
- zilladar, n.1763–
- Zil lane, n.1985–
- zilla parishad, n.1957–
- zillion, n. & adj.1920–
- zillionaire, n.1926–
- zillionth, n. & adj.1940–
- zimb, n.1790–
- Zimba, n.1625–
- Zimbabwe, n.1891–
- Zimbabwean, adj. & n.1961–
- zimbel, n.1888–
- zimme, n.1848–63
- Zimmer, n.1951–
- zina, n.1817–
- zinc, n.1651–
- zinc, v.1843–
- zinc-air, adj.1970–
- Zincala, n.1844–91
- Zincalo, n.1841–
- zinc-alum, n.1851–
- zinc-amide, n.1859–
Etymology
Summary
Notes
Meaning & use
- 1888–A compound organ stop having a relatively high pitch; = cymbal n. 3.
- 1888
Specification of the large organ at Wolfenbüttel... III. Choir...7. Zimbel, doubled.
Musical World 12 May 370/1 - 1976
An exuberant finale contrasts the zimbel with the cornet.
Gramophone October 628/3 - 1980
‘Mixture’ was normally used to denote the Principal-scaled chorus Mixture as distinct from the high Zimbeln or the solo Cornets.
New Grove Dictionary of Music vol. XIII. 791/1 - 1986
Various newly invented, extremely high-pitched Zimbels.
J. Brombaugh in G. Stauffer & E. May, J. S. Bach as Organist (2000) 42
society leisure the arts music musical instrument keyboard instrument organ [nouns] stop mixture-stops specific- cornet1660–A compound flue stop in an organ consisting usually of 8-foot, 4-foot, and 2-foot ranks together with two or more mixture ranks, sometimes…
- clarionc1670–A four-feet organ stop of quality of tone similar to that of the clarion.
- sesquialtera1688–The name of an organ stop, consisting of several ranks of pipes, of a brilliant tone. Usually absol. as n.
- cornet stop1722–A compound flue stop in an organ; = cornet, n.¹ I.2.
- sesquialter1841–= sesquialtera, adj. 2.
- cymbal1852–A kind of stop on an organ.
- harmonica1852–Name given to different organ stops.
- plein jeu1855–An organ stop or combination of stops producing a full chorus of montres (diapasons and principals) in octaves, plus fourniture (additional…
- sext1855–76Music. rare. An organ stop of two ranks of pipes having an interval of a sixth between them. Obsolete.
- fourniture1876–A powerful mixture stop on an organ, composed of octaves and quints; = furniture, n. 8.
- rauschpfeife1876–In an organ: a kind of low-pitched mixture stop.
- tertian1876–A mixture stop on an organ, consisting of a tierce and larigot combined.
- zimbel1888–A compound organ stop having a relatively high pitch; = cymbal, n. 3.
Pronunciation
British English
U.S. English
Plural: zimbeln
British English
U.S. 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.
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
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
Inflections
Variant forms
- 1800s–zimbel
- 1900s–zymbel
Frequency
zimbel typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zimbel 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 zimbel, n., 1880–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1880 | 0.0002 |
| 1890 | 0.0002 |
| 1900 | 0.0002 |
| 1910 | 0.0002 |
| 1920 | 0.0002 |
| 1930 | 0.0002 |
| 1940 | 0.0002 |
| 1950 | 0.0003 |
| 1960 | 0.0003 |
| 1970 | 0.0002 |
| 1980 | 0.0002 |
| 1990 | 0.0002 |
| 2000 | 0.0001 |
| 2010 | 0.0001 |