zho, n.

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

# zhonoun

## Earlier version

- zho in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zho mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zho. 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 zho?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1840 | 0.0053
1850 | 0.0049
1860 | 0.0054
1870 | 0.0064
1880 | 0.0096
1890 | 0.01
1900 | 0.01
1910 | 0.01
1920 | 0.01
1930 | 0.0097
1940 | 0.0088
1950 | 0.0057
1960 | 0.005
1970 | 0.0051
1980 | 0.0051
1990 | 0.005
2000 | 0.0053
2010 | 0.0053

### How is the noun zho pronounced?

#### British English

/ʒəʊ/

### Where does the noun zho come from?

Earliest known use

1840s

The earliest known use of the noun zho is in the 1840s.

OED's earliest evidence for zho is from 1841, in the writing of Horace Wilson, Sanskritist.

zho is a borrowing from Tibetan.

Etymons: Tibetan ṃdso.

### Nearby entries

1. Zeus, n.² 1601–
2. Zeus-like, adj. & adv. 1850–
3. Zeuxian, adj. 1635–
4. Zeuxis, n. 1577–
5. Zeuxis-like, adj. 1665–
6. zeuxite, n. 1836–
7. zeze, n. 1860–
8. Zhdanovism, n. 1958–
9. Zhdanovist, adj. 1966–
10. Zhdanovite, adj. 1957–
11. zho, n.1841–
12. zhomo, n. 1841–
13. zhuyin zimu, n. 1938–
14. zhuzh, n. 1968–
15. zhuzh, v. 1970–
16. zhuzhy, adj. 1968–
17. ziamet, n. 1807–
18. ziarat, n. 1776–
19. zibeline, n. 1585–
20. zibet, n. 1594–
21. zibet-muff, n. 1685

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Tibetan.
Etymon: Tibetan ṃdso.
< Tibetan ṃdso.

## Meaning & use

1. 1841–
   A hybrid bovine animal, bred from a yak bull and a common cow, used for domestic purposes in Northern India. Also called zobo, zobu [with masculine suffix ‑bo] .
   1. 1841

      > Oxen of the common kind are not used for ploughing, the zho ox, or hybrid male between the yak..and the common cow, or the humped variety called zebu, being greatly preferred, as is its sister, the zhomo, for the dairy. Ploughing is performed by a pair of zhos.

      H. H. Wilson, Trav. Moorcroft & Trebeck vol. I. 272
   2. 1841

      > The Zho or Yak-mule.

      H. H. Wilson, Trav. Moorcroft & Trebeck vol. I. 309
   3. 1854

      > The zobo..is but rarely seen in these mountains, though common in the North West Himalaya.

      J. D. Hooker, Himalayan Journals vol. I. ix. 213
   4. 1867
      A. L. Adams, Wanderings of Naturalist in India 271.
   5. 1880

      > The yák, from which is reared a cross breed with the ordinary horned cattle of India locally called ‘zobu’.

      R. Strachey in Encyclopædia Britannica vol. XI. 833/2
   animals
   1. zho 1841–
      A hybrid bovine animal, bred from a yak bull and a common cow, used for domestic purposes in Northern India. Also called zobo, zobu.
   2. zhomo 1841–
      A female zho.
   3. dso 1882–
      See quot.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ʒəʊ/

####

##### 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.

## Frequency

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

zho 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 zho, n., 1840–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1840 | 0.0053
1850 | 0.0049
1860 | 0.0054
1870 | 0.0064
1880 | 0.0096
1890 | 0.01
1900 | 0.01
1910 | 0.01
1920 | 0.01
1930 | 0.0097
1940 | 0.0088
1950 | 0.0057
1960 | 0.005
1970 | 0.0051
1980 | 0.0051
1990 | 0.005
2000 | 0.0053
2010 | 0.0053

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zhomo, n. 1841–
   A female zho.

zho, n. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.

zho, n. was last modified in December 2024.