Zeuxian, adj.

zeuxian
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zeuxian_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# Zeuxianadjective

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective Zeuxian mean?

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

### How common is the adjective Zeuxian?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1900 | 0.0002
1910 | 0.0001
1920 | 0.0001
1930 | 0.0001
1940 | 0.0001
1950 | 0.0002
1960 | 0.0003
1970 | 0.0004
1980 | 0.0005
1990 | 0.0006
2000 | 0.0007
2010 | 0.0009

### How is the adjective Zeuxian pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈz(j)uːksiən/
ZYOOK-see-uhn

#### U.S. English

/ˈzuksiən/
ZOOK-see-uhn

### Where does the adjective Zeuxian come from?

Earliest known use

mid 1600s

The earliest known use of the adjective Zeuxian is in the mid 1600s.

OED's earliest evidence for Zeuxian is from 1635, in the writing of Francis Quarles, poet.

From a proper name, combined with an English element.

Etymons: proper name Zeuxis, ‑ian suffix.

### Nearby entries

1. zeugmatic, adj. 1851–
2. zeugmatical, adj. 1610–
3. zeugmatically, adv. 1616–
4. zeugmatogram, n. 1973–
5. zeugmatographic, adj. 1973–
6. zeugmatography, n. 1973–
7. zeunerite, n. 1873–
8. Zeus, n.¹ 1587–
9. Zeus, n.² 1601–
10. Zeus-like, adj. & adv. 1850–
11. Zeuxian, adj.1635–
12. Zeuxis, n. 1577–
13. Zeuxis-like, adj. 1665–
14. zeuxite, n. 1836–
15. zeze, n. 1860–
16. Zhdanovism, n. 1958–
17. Zhdanovist, adj. 1966–
18. Zhdanovite, adj. 1957–
19. zho, n. 1841–
20. zhomo, n. 1841–
21. zhuyin zimu, n. 1938–

## Etymology

### Summary

From a proper name, combined with an English element.
Etymons: proper name Zeuxis, ‑ian suffix.
< the name of Zeuxis (see Zeuxis n.) + ‑ian suffix.

## Meaning & use

1. 1635–
   Of, relating to, or characteristic of Zeuxis or his art (see Zeuxis n.); esp. characterized by a high level of realism, or by the combination of individual elements considered to represent the best of their kind to form an ideal whole.
   1. 1635

      > Is not this Type well cut? In ev'ry part Full of rich cunning? fil'd with Zeuxian Art?

      F. Quarles, Emblemes iii. ix. 157
   2. 1682

      > The Figure's drawn to th' life, yea ev'ry part Is grac'd and deckt with more than Zeuxian Art.

      H. C. in J. Dunton, House of Weeping Poem to Author sig. A10v
   3. 1880

      > Bright chintz curtains..flaunt orange-colored roses with immense purple leaves, as gayly as though exhibiting a Zeuxian representation of Nature.

      B. Carr, Marston Hall xxxix. 308
   4. 1989

      > The Zeuxian image..duplicates..not the object world itself..but the arrest of that world by the perceiving and conceptualizing mind.

      Journal of Aesthetics & Art Criticism vol. 47 353/2
   5. 2011

      > Vasari subscribed to a model of Zeuxian selective imitation by which the artists combined the best parts of selected models to form a beautiful whole.

      16th Century Journal vol. 42 726
   visual arts
   1. Zeuxian 1635–
      Of, relating to, or characteristic of Zeuxis or his art (see Zeuxis, n.); esp. characterized by a high level of realism, or by the combination of…
   2. Zeuxis-like 1665–
      Resembling or characteristic of Zeuxis or his art (see Zeuxis, n.); cf. Zeuxian, adj.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈz(j)uːksiən/
ZYOOK-see-uhn

### U.S. English

/ˈzuksiən/
ZOOK-see-uhn

####

##### 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

## Frequency

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

Zeuxian 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 data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of Zeuxian, adj., 1900–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1900 | 0.0002
1910 | 0.0001
1920 | 0.0001
1930 | 0.0001
1940 | 0.0001
1950 | 0.0002
1960 | 0.0003
1970 | 0.0004
1980 | 0.0005
1990 | 0.0006
2000 | 0.0007
2010 | 0.0009

Originally published as part of the entry for Zeuxis, n.

Zeuxian, adj. was revised in June 2018.

Zeuxian, adj. was last modified in July 2023.