zero-hours, adj.

zero-hours
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zero-hours_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 2018

# zero-hoursadjective

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective zero-hours mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the adjective zero-hours. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

This word is used in British English.

### How common is the adjective zero-hours?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

2017 | 0.15
2018 | 0.15
2019 | 0.15
2020 | 0.13
2021 | 0.12
2022 | 0.13
2023 | 0.13
2024 | 0.12

### How is the adjective zero-hours pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɪərəʊˌaʊəz/
ZEER-oh-ow-uhz

#### U.S. English

/ˈzɪroʊˌaʊ(ə)rz/
ZEER-oh-ow-uhrz
/ˈziroʊˌaʊ(ə)rz/
ZEER-oh-ow-uhrz

### Where does the adjective zero-hours come from?

Earliest known use

1980s

The earliest known use of the adjective zero-hours is in the 1980s.

OED's earliest evidence for zero-hours is from 1988, in the Financial Times (London).

zero-hours is formed within English, by compounding.

Etymons: zero n., hour n.

### Nearby entries

1. zero-energy, adj. 1947–
2. zero-field, adj. 1915–
3. zero-G, adj. & n. 1950–
4. zero grade, n. 1888–
5. zero gravity, n. & adj. 1915–
6. zero-graze, v. 1954–
7. zero-grazed, adj. 1958–
8. zero grazing, n. 1954–
9. zero growth, n. 1907–
10. zero hour, n. 1915–
11. zero-hours, adj.1988–
12. zeroing, n. 1906–
13. zeroize, v. 1894–
14. zero-length, adj. 1945–
15. zero-line, n. 1834–
16. zero magnet, n. 1890–
17. zero mark, n. 1821–
18. zero meridian, n. 1849–
19. zero norm, n. 1966–
20. zero option, n. 1976–
21. zero-order, adj. 1919–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by compounding.
Etymons: zero n., hour n.
In α forms < zero n. + the plural of hour n.

In β forms < zero n. + hour n.

## Meaning & use

British.

1. 1988–
   Denoting or relating to a contract of employment that does not include a guarantee of regular work for the employee, who is paid only for the hours he or she actually works. Frequently in zero-hours contract. Cf. casual adj. A.8a.
   1. 1988

      > The report said workers were increasingly being offered ‘zero-hours’ contracts, with no guaranteed work.

      Financial Times 1 September 7/8
   2. 1995

      > Probation hostel wardens offered ‘zero hours’ deal.

      Independent (Nexis) 6 November 10 (heading)
   3. 2004

      > [The company] pays its zero-hour workers an hourly salary plus commission.

      Trav. Trade Gazette UK & Ireland (Nexis) 25 June 1
   4. 2015

      > If you're not needed that day, you don't get paid. How can you pay your bills and plan your life around a zero-hours contract?

      Radio Times 9 May (South/West edition) 9/1
   British English

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɪərəʊˌaʊəz/
ZEER-oh-ow-uhz

### U.S. English

/ˈzɪroʊˌaʊ(ə)rz/
ZEER-oh-ow-uhrz
/ˈziroʊˌaʊ(ə)rz/
ZEER-oh-ow-uhrz

####

##### 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

##### α.

1. 1900s–
   zero-hours

##### β.

1. 1900s–
   zero-hour

## Frequency

zero-hours typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zero-hours 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 zero-hours, adj., 1980–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1980 | 0.0012
1990 | 0.0012
2000 | 0.0012
2010 | 0.0012

### Frequency of zero-hours, adj., 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.

Period | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
2017 | 0.15
2018 | 0.15
2019 | 0.15
2020 | 0.13
2021 | 0.12
2022 | 0.13
2023 | 0.13
2024 | 0.12

zero-hours, adj. was first published in June 2018.

zero-hours, adj. was last modified in July 2023.