zek, n.

zek
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zek_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zeknoun

## Earlier version

- zek in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zek mean?

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

### How common is the noun zek?

About 0.06occurrences per million words in modern written English

1960 | 0.079
1970 | 0.067
1980 | 0.06
1990 | 0.06
2000 | 0.067
2010 | 0.043

### How is the noun zek pronounced?

#### British English

/zɛk/
zeck

#### U.S. English

/zɛk/
zeck

### Where does the noun zek come from?

Earliest known use

1960s

The earliest known use of the noun zek is in the 1960s.

OED's earliest evidence for zek is from 1968, in a translation by T. P. Whitney.

zek is a borrowing from Russian.

Etymons: Russian zek.

### Nearby entries

1. zeep, v. 1886–
2. zeeping, adj. 1895–
3. zef, adj. 1990–
4. zegadine, n. 1651–
5. zeilanite, n. 1815–
6. zein, n. 1820–
7. Zeiss, n. 1876–
8. zeitgeber, n. 1958–
9. zeitgeist, n. 1848–
10. zeitgeisty, adj. 1966–
11. zek, n.1968–
12. zelant, n. 1624–26
13. zelatrice, n. 1874–
14. zelatrix, n. 1865–
15. Zeldovich, n. 1956–
16. Zelig, n. 1984–
17. Zelig-like, adj. 1983–
18. zelkova, n. 1836–
19. zelotypia, n. 1566–
20. zelotyping, adj. a1660
21. zelotypist, n.?1632

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Russian.
Etymon: Russian zek.
< Russian zèk, zek convict, especially political prisoner (1962 or earlier), representing a pronunciation of z/k, an abbreviation of uncertain origin: probably originally representing…
< Russian zèk, zek convict, especially political prisoner (1962 or earlier), representing a pronunciation of z/k, an abbreviation of uncertain origin: probably originally representing zaključënnyj kanaloarmeec < zaključënnyj imprisoned + kanaloarmeec person working on construction of the White Sea–Baltic Canal (< kanal canal n. + ‑o‑ ‑o‑ connective + armeec member of an army, after krasnoarmeec, lit. ‘soldier of the Red Army’).

### Notes

In plural form zeki after the Russian plural form.

## Meaning & use

1. 1968–
   Originally and chiefly in Russian-speaking contexts: a prisoner; a convict; (in early use) esp. a person held in a forced labour camp in the U.S.S.R.
   1. 1968

      > All the zeks at the Mavrino sharashka belonged, though they were not at the time in hard-labor camps, to the realm of GULAG.

      T. P. Whitney, translation of A. Solzhenitsyn, First Circle p. x
   2. 1982

      > They got him for parasitism and a few other offences. Now he was presumably..east of the Urals and taking the zeks for their bread ration.

      T. J. Binyon, Swan Song viii. 58
   3. 1998

      > I came here to repay a debt to a close friend, a fellow zek.

      M. Booth, Industry of Souls xi. 239
   4. 2017

      > Some contributors insist that..bringing a child into the world whose father is a zek is to cast ‘a cloud over its childhood’.

      J. Pallot & E. Katz, Waiting at Prison Gate vii. 135
   1. prison a1225–1616
      A prisoner. Obsolete.
   2. prisoner c1384–
      A person who is kept in prison or in custody; spec. one who is legally committed to prison as the result of a legal process, either as punishment for…
   3. enpresoné c1425
      A prisoner.
   4. bird 1580–
      slang. A prisoner; a habitual offender. Frequently with modifying word. Cf. sense IV.19. Now rare except in jailbird, n.
   5. warder 1584–1629
      Scottish. A person in ward, a prisoner. Obsolete. rare.
   6. canary bird 1593–
      slang (originally cant). A prisoner; (also) †a habitual offender, a criminal, a rogue (obsolete). Cf. canary, n.⁵ 2b, jailbird, n. Now rare.
   7. penitential a1633–1828
      A person performing or undergoing penance, a penitent. Also humorously: a prisoner. Obsolete.
   8. convict 1786–
      spec. A condemned criminal serving a sentence of penal servitude.
   9. chum 1819–
      One who shares apartments with another or others, one who lodges or resides in the same room or rooms: ‘a chamber-fellow, a term used in the…
   10. lag 1819–
       A convict who has been transported or sentenced to penal servitude.
   11. lagger 1819–
       A convict undergoing or having undergone penal servitude.
   12. new chum 1819–65
       Chiefly Australian. A prisoner newly admitted to a jail or prison ship; a newly arrived convict. Obsolete.
   13. nut-brown 1835–40
       Australian. A convict. Obsolete.
   14. collegian 1837–
       slang. An inmate of a prison. Cf. college, n. 8.
   15. canary 1840–
       slang. gen. A prisoner; (originally) †a habitual offender, a jailbird (obsolete). Cf. canary bird, n. 2a. rare.
   16. lock-up prisoner 1846–
       A prisoner in a lock-up (lock-up, n. 1).
   17. Sydney duck 1873–
       A convict.
   18. forty 1879–
       A ‘crook’, thief, sharper (in quot. 1879, a convict). Australian slang.
   19. zebra 1882–
       Applied to a person. U.S. colloquial. A prison inmate or convict wearing a uniform made of a (typically black and white) striped fabric; (also) the…
   20. con 1893–
       Criminals' slang. = convict, n.¹, conviction, n.
   21. yardbird 1956–
       A convict.
   22. zek 1968–
       Originally and chiefly in Russian-speaking contexts: a prisoner; a convict; (in early use) esp. a person held in a forced labour camp in the U.S.S.R.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zɛk/
zeck

### U.S. English

/zɛk/
zeck

###
Plural: zeki

### British English

/ˈzɛki/
ZECK-ee

### U.S. English

/ˈzɛki/
ZECK-ee

####

##### 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

### Inflections

Plural: zeks, zeki ( British English /ˈzɛki/ (ZECK-ee) , U.S. English /ˈzɛki/ (ZECK-ee) )

## Frequency

zek typically occurs about 0.06 times per million words in modern written English.

zek is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 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 zek, n., 1960–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1960 | 0.079
1970 | 0.067
1980 | 0.06
1990 | 0.06
2000 | 0.067
2010 | 0.043

zek, n. was revised in June 2018.

zek, n. was last modified in July 2023.