Zorb, n.

zorb
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zorb_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 2003

# Zorbnoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun Zorb mean?

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

### How common is the noun Zorb?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

2017 | 0.013
2018 | 0.011
2019 | 0.015
2020 | 0.018
2021 | 0.024
2022 | 0.022
2023 | 0.026
2024 | 0.024

### How is the noun Zorb pronounced?

#### British English

/zɔːb/
zorb

#### U.S. English

/zɔrb/
zorb

#### New Zealand English

/ˈzoːb/

### Where does the noun Zorb come from?

Earliest known use

1990s

The earliest known use of the noun Zorb is in the 1990s.

OED's earliest evidence for Zorb is from 1996, in South Bend (Indiana) Tribune.

Zorb is apparently an arbitrary formation.

### Nearby entries

1. zooxanthin, n. 1868–
2. zoozygosphere, n. 1880–
3. zope, n. 1880–
4. zophoric, adj. 1728–
5. zophorus | zoophorus, n. 1563–
6. zopilote, n. 1787–
7. zopissa, n. 1601–
8. zoppa, adj. 1740–
9. Zoque, n. 1891–
10. Zoque–Mixe, adj. & n. 1893–
11. Zorb, n.1996–
12. zorbing, n. 1996–
13. zorgite, n. 1852–
14. zori, n.?1823–
15. zoril, n. 1774–
16. Zoroastrian, adj. & n. 1597–
17. Zoroastrianism, n. 1832–
18. Zoroastrianize, v. 1891–
19. Zoroastric, adj. a1739–
20. Zoroastrism, n. 1819–
21. zorrino, n. 1885–

## Etymology

### Summary

Apparently an arbitrary formation.
Apparently an arbitrary formation; compare orb n.1 Compare zorbing n.

## Meaning & use

Originally New Zealand.

1. 1996–
   A large, transparent, inflatable PVC ball used in the sport of zorbing, containing an inner capsule into which a participant is secured and then rolled along the ground, down hills, etc.
   A proprietary name in New Zealand and the U.S.
   1. 1996

      > The latest trend in New Zealand..is zorbing. The zorb is a transparent, pliable plastic 6-feet-6-inch ball that adventurers are strapped into before rolling around, surrounded by a protective 10-foot outer ball.

      South Bend (Indiana) Tribune 7 July e9/1
   2. 1999

      > The idea is that the zorb speeds up and the zorbonaut gets pinned to the inside by centrifugal force.

      Northern Echo (Electronic edition) 11 June
   3. 2002

      > From the long-established luge running down tracks..to the jet boat or Zorb rides run by the Agrodome, thrills and spills are everywhere.

      Evening Post (New Zealand) 1 July 16
   New Zealand English
   1. water bomb 1898–
      A balloon, paper bag, etc., that is filled, or designed to be filled, with water, and is thrown or dropped so that it bursts and disperses its…
   2. skyride 1913–
      (A name for) a cable car or similar aerial lift used to transport passengers high above ground.
   3. paintball 1984–
      A capsule of brightly coloured paint which bursts on impact, as used in the game of paintball (sense 2).
   4. devil stick 1992–
      Any of three sticks used in a game or performance in which one stick is spun and manipulated so as to remain in the air by two others held in the…
   5. Zorb 1996–
      A large, transparent, inflatable PVC ball used in the sport of zorbing, containing an inner capsule into which a participant is secured and then… A proprietary name in New Zealand and the U.S.
   6. geocache 2000–
      In geocaching: a container, typically holding a number of items, hidden at a specific location; an item hidden in this way. Cf. geocaching, n.
   7. waterball 2007–
      A large, transparent, inflatable PVC ball which can be propelled across water by a person inside running or walking, usually as an entertainment or…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zɔːb/
zorb

### U.S. English

/zɔrb/
zorb

### New Zealand English

/ˈzoːb/

####

##### 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.

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye*
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- 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 as in British and US English.

##### Vowels

- iːfleece
- ihappy, sing
- əkit, letter, ago
- edress
- ɛtrap
- ʌstrut
- ʌːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot, cloth
- oːthought, north, force
- ʊfoot
- ʉːgoose
- ɵːnurse
- ʌʉgoat
- æʉmouth
- iənear
- eəsquare
- ʉəcure
- æeface
- ɑepride
- oevoice

Māori-origin words may vary in length or diphthongal quality.

In New Zealand English, words of Māori origin are treated slightly differently from the rest. Multiple pronunciations may be given, the first of which is a close representation of the Māori pronunciation. Varying degrees of anglicization may be reflected in subsequent pronunciations. The Māori pronunciations use the same vowel symbols as above but with varying length (e.g. /eː/ in addition to /e/) or different diphthong qualities.

##### 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

## Frequency

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

Zorb 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 Zorb, n., 1990–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1990 | 0.0029
2000 | 0.0029
2010 | 0.0029

### Frequency of Zorb, n., 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 | 0.013
2018 | 0.011
2019 | 0.015
2020 | 0.018
2021 | 0.024
2022 | 0.022
2023 | 0.026
2024 | 0.024

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zorbing, n. 1996–
   A sport, originating in New Zealand, in which a…

Zorb, n. was first published in June 2003.

Zorb, n. was last modified in July 2023.