Zyklon, n.

zyklon
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zyklon_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1986; not fully revised

# Zyklonnoun

## Earlier version

- Zyklon in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun Zyklon mean?

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

About 0.04occurrences per million words in modern written English

1930 | 0.02
1940 | 0.021
1950 | 0.023
1960 | 0.028
1970 | 0.035
1980 | 0.041
1990 | 0.044
2000 | 0.048
2010 | 0.054

### How is the noun Zyklon pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzʌɪklɒn/

### Where does the noun Zyklon come from?

Earliest known use

1930s

The earliest known use of the noun Zyklon is in the 1930s.

OED's earliest evidence for Zyklon is from 1939, in a text by C. L. Metcalf and W. P. Flint.

Zyklon is a borrowing from German.

Etymons: German Zyklon.

### Nearby entries

1. zygote, n. 1891–
2. zygotene, n. 1911–
3. zygotic, adj. 1909–
4. -zygotic, comb. form
5. zygotically, adv. 1915–
6. zygotoblast, n. 1899–
7. zygotoid, n. 1891–
8. zygotomere, n. 1899–
9. -zygous, comb. form
10. zygozoospore, n. 1881–
11. Zyklon, n.1939–
12. zymad, n. 1885–
13. zymase, n. 1875–
14. zymate, n. 1817–19
15. zyme, n. 1882–
16. zymic, adj. 1817–26
17. zymin, n. 1842–
18. zyminized, adj. 1888–
19. zymo-, comb. form
20. zymocyte, n. a1909–
21. zymodeme, n. 1978–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from German.
Etymon: German Zyklon.
< German Zyklon, of unknown etymology.

## Meaning & use

1. 1939–
   Hydrogen cyanide adsorbed on, or released from, a carrier in the form of small tablets, used as a fumigant and formerly as a poison gas. Usually as Zyklon B.
   1. [1926

      > Deutsche Gesellschaft für Schädlingsbekämpfung, m.b.H., Frankfort-on-the-Main... Zyklon... Apparatus for measuring the quantities of substances which generate poisonous gases—for instance, hydrocyanic acid.

      Official Gazette (U.S. Patent Office) 9 November 298/1]
   2. 1939

      > The other type of dry cyanides, such as the zyklon products, undergo no chemical change when exposed.

      C. L. Metcalf & W. P. Flint, Destructive & Useful Insects (ed. 2) ix. 281
   3. 1944

      > The application of Cyclon B (o.4 g./cc.) for 24 hrs. destroyed all insects but imparted a peculiar taste to the tobaccos.

      Chemical Abstracts vol. 38 3416
   4. 1964

      > With Cyclon B they killed two and a half million at Auschwitz.

      L. Deighton, Funeral in Berlin xxxi. 169
   5. 1975

      > Former SS soldiers..had functioned so anonymously in the camps that hardly anyone lived who could identify them as guards once manning machine guns or dropping Zyklon B tablets into gas chambers.

      W. Craig, Strasbourg Legacy (1976) i. 9
   6. 1977

      > [He] was tried and acquitted at Nürnberg in 1948 for supplying the SS with Zykon-B gas.

      Times 8 June 9/7
   7. 1978

      > Zyklon B, the powerful insecticide they have been using right along at the camp to fumigate the barracks, may be the surprisingly simple solution.

      H. Wouk, War & Remembrance xi. 111
   organic chemistry
   1. carbonic oxide 1802–
      = carbon monoxide, n.
   2. poison gas 1816–
      Any of various gases or vapours which are harmful when inhaled or absorbed through the skin, used esp. to disable an enemy in warfare.
   3. cyanogen 1823–
      A compound radical consisting of one atom of nitrogen and one of carbon (symbol CN or Cy). In the form of di-cyanogen (C2N2), it is a colourless gas…
   4. carbon monoxide 1868–
      A colourless, odourless, flammable, extremely toxic gas formed by the incomplete combustion of carbon.
   5. harassing gas 1918–
      A non-lethal chemical which is deployed in the form of a gas or aerosol and used to incapacitate an enemy or disperse a crowd; = harassing agent, n.
   6. sneeze gas 1918–
      A substance used to incapacitate people by causing them to sneeze when it is inhaled or absorbed through the skin.
   7. sneezing gas 1918–
      = sneeze gas, n.
   8. harassing agent 1919–
      A non-lethal chemical which is deployed in the form of a gas or aerosol and used to incapacitate an enemy or disperse a crowd; = harassing gas, n.
   9. Lewisite 1921–
      A dark oily liquid (colourless when pure) which is a powerful respiratory irritant and causes painful blisters on contact with the skin…
   10. sternutator 1922–
       A substance that causes nasal irritation; esp. a poison gas that causes irritation of the nose and eyes, pain in the chest, and nausea.
   11. blister gas 1936–
       A poison gas which causes blisters on or intense irritation of the skin.
   12. nausea gas 1936–
       A gas used to induce nausea in people.
   13. Zyklon 1939–
       Hydrogen cyanide adsorbed on, or released from, a carrier in the form of small tablets, used as a fumigant and formerly as a poison gas. Usually as…
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. sulfocyanide 1841–
      Short for ammonium sulfocyanide.
   2. platinocyanide 1845–
      Any of a series of fluorescent salts which contain the anion [Pt(CN)4]²⁻.
   3. valeronitrile 1847–
      Cyanide of tetryl.
   4. rhodan 1849–
      = thiocyanogen, n.; (also) the thiocyanate ion or radical (—SCN). Frequently attributive.
   5. Everitt's salt 1890–
      Old Chemistry. Particular substances of this class are distinguished by defining words (cf. sal, n.¹); e.g. †salt ammoniac (= sal ammoniac, n.), †esse…
   6. acrylonitrile 1893–
      A pungent, toxic, organic liquid which can be polymerized to form artificial fibres and other materials. Also called cyanoethylene, vinyl cyanide.
   7. Zyklon B 1939–
      Hydrogen cyanide adsorbed on, or released from, a carrier in the form of small tablets, used as a fumigant and formerly as a poison gas. Usually as…
   8. TCNQ 1960–
      7,7,8,8-tetracyano-p-quinodimethane, an organic compound forming salts of unusually low resistivity.
   9. propenenitrile 1963–
      = acrylonitrile, n.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzʌɪklɒn/

####

##### 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.

## Forms

### Variant forms

Also Cyclon.

## Frequency

Zyklon typically occurs about 0.04 times per million words in modern written English.

Zyklon 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 Zyklon, n., 1930–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1930 | 0.02
1940 | 0.021
1950 | 0.023
1960 | 0.028
1970 | 0.035
1980 | 0.041
1990 | 0.044
2000 | 0.048
2010 | 0.054

### Frequency of Zyklon, 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 | 0.0077
2018 | 0.0092
2019 | 0.012
2020 | 0.014
2021 | 0.012
2022 | 0.01
2023 | 0.0093
2024 | 0.0047

Zyklon, n. was first published in 1986; not fully revised.

Zyklon, n. was last modified in December 2024.