zingibernoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zingiber mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zingiber. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun zingiber?
| 1750 | 0.015 |
| 1760 | 0.012 |
| 1770 | 0.011 |
| 1780 | 0.013 |
| 1790 | 0.012 |
| 1800 | 0.012 |
| 1810 | 0.012 |
| 1820 | 0.0089 |
| 1830 | 0.0095 |
| 1840 | 0.0088 |
| 1850 | 0.0069 |
| 1860 | 0.0061 |
| 1870 | 0.0056 |
| 1880 | 0.0057 |
| 1890 | 0.0054 |
| 1900 | 0.0048 |
| 1910 | 0.0046 |
| 1920 | 0.0039 |
| 1930 | 0.0035 |
| 1940 | 0.0027 |
| 1950 | 0.0022 |
| 1960 | 0.0018 |
| 1970 | 0.0018 |
| 1980 | 0.0018 |
| 1990 | 0.0018 |
| 2000 | 0.0019 |
| 2010 | 0.0019 |
How is the noun zingiber pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun zingiber come from?
Earliest known use
early 1700s
The earliest known use of the noun zingiber is in the early 1700s.
OED's earliest evidence for zingiber is from around 1720, in Husbandman's Jewel.
zingiber is a borrowing from Latin.
Etymons: Latin zingiber.
Nearby entries
- zingana, n.¹1883
- zingana, n.²1911–
- Zingani, n.1581–1879
- Zingara, n.1756–
- Zingaro, n.1600–
- zingel, n.1803–
- zingelin perch, n.1803
- zinger, n.1906–
- Zingg, n.1941–
- zingho, n.1743
- zingiber, n.?1720–
- zingiberaceous, adj.1821–
- zingily, adv.1951–
- zinginess, n.1938–
- zinging, n.1921–
- zinging, adj.1915–
- zingingly, adv.1952–
- zingo, int.1906–
- zingy, adj.1938–
- Zinjanthropus, n.1959–
- zinke, n.1773–
Etymology
Summary
Notes
Meaning & use
- ?1720–Originally: the spice ginger (now rare). In later use: the ginger plant, Zingiber officinale, or any other plant of the genus Zingiber. Cf. ginger n. A.I
- ?1720
Take a quarter of an Ounce of Zinziber Pouder, 2 Ounces of fine Loaf Sugar, mix them well with some of the Liquor being warm, and pour it in.
Husbandman's Jewel 19 - 1749
Produce that are Commodities in Trade (a) Cocoa, (b) Zingiber or Ginger, (c) Indigo, (d) Cotton-Wool.
W. Douglass, Summary State Brit. Settlement N.-Amer. vol. I. 128 - 1788
The zingiber, or common ginger, is a native of the East, and also of some parts of the West Indies.
W. H. Hall, New Royal Encyclopedia vol. I. at Amomum - 1886
Zingiber or ginger has a tonic effect on the stomach unless it is overused.
Hahnemannian Monthly April 218 - 1970
Bottles..of everything from Advocaat to Zingiber wine.
Guardian 2 June 12/5 - 1971
But the particular forte of most [herbs] is as permanent foliage foils for other, brighter things as well as in their own right, from angelica to zingiber.
Country Life 20 May 1252/2 - 2016
Zingibers are best grown from the rhizome.
MidWeek (Mackay, Queensland) (Nexis) 30 November 13
- gingerOld English–The rhizome of the plant Zingiber officinale, which has a distinctive aroma and hot spicy taste, and is used in cooking and as a medicinal agent.
- white ginger?c1425–Ginger root from which the skin was removed prior to drying or preserving.
- racec1450–A root (of ginger); = hand, n. II.12b.
- ginger spice1530–A hot, fragrant spice made from the dried and powdered rhizome of ginger.
- rance1570–1725A root of ginger; = race, n.²
- black ginger1613–Ginger root which has not had the dark outer skin scraped away; cf. white ginger, n.
- zingiber?1720–Originally: the spice ginger (now rare). In later use: the ginger plant, Zingiber officinale, or any other plant of the genus Zingiber. Cf. ginger, n.…
- Jamaica ginger1818–White ginger (see ginger, n. A.I.1a).
Pronunciation
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
Variant forms
1.
α.
- 1700szinziber
β.
- 1700s–zingiber
Frequency
zingiber typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zingiber 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 of zingiber, n., 1750–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1750 | 0.015 |
| 1760 | 0.012 |
| 1770 | 0.011 |
| 1780 | 0.013 |
| 1790 | 0.012 |
| 1800 | 0.012 |
| 1810 | 0.012 |
| 1820 | 0.0089 |
| 1830 | 0.0095 |
| 1840 | 0.0088 |
| 1850 | 0.0069 |
| 1860 | 0.0061 |
| 1870 | 0.0056 |
| 1880 | 0.0057 |
| 1890 | 0.0054 |
| 1900 | 0.0048 |
| 1910 | 0.0046 |
| 1920 | 0.0039 |
| 1930 | 0.0035 |
| 1940 | 0.0027 |
| 1950 | 0.0022 |
| 1960 | 0.0018 |
| 1970 | 0.0018 |
| 1980 | 0.0018 |
| 1990 | 0.0018 |
| 2000 | 0.0019 |
| 2010 | 0.0019 |