zizyphus, n.

zizyphus
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zizyphus_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2021

# zizyphusnoun

## Earlier version

- zizyphus in OED Second Edition (1989)

## In other dictionaries

- zīziphus, n. in Middle English Dictionary

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zizyphus mean?

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

### How common is the noun zizyphus?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1780 | 0.0066
1790 | 0.0062
1800 | 0.0095
1810 | 0.0086
1820 | 0.0066
1830 | 0.0085
1840 | 0.0097
1850 | 0.01
1860 | 0.01
1870 | 0.0076
1880 | 0.0075
1890 | 0.0071
1900 | 0.0059
1910 | 0.0054
1920 | 0.005
1930 | 0.0049
1940 | 0.0046
1950 | 0.0047
1960 | 0.0046
1970 | 0.0044
1980 | 0.0041
1990 | 0.0038
2000 | 0.0038
2010 | 0.0034

### How is the noun zizyphus pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɪzᵻfəs/
ZIZ-uh-fuhss

#### U.S. English

/ˈzɪzəfəs/
ZIZ-uh-fuhss

### Where does the noun zizyphus come from?

Earliest known use

Middle English

The earliest known use of the noun zizyphus is in the Middle English period (1150—1500).

OED's earliest evidence for zizyphus is from around 1440, in Palladius' De Re Rustica.

zizyphus is a borrowing from Latin.

Etymons: Latin zīziphus.

### Nearby entries

1. zithering, adj. 1889–
2. zitherist, n. 1866–
3. zither-like, adj. 1881–
4. ziti, n. 1845–
5. zitty, adj. 1971–
6. Ziv, n. a1382–
7. zizania, n. 1526–
8. zizany, n. a1400–1803
9. zizel, n. 1775–
10. zizypha, n. 1546–1775
11. zizyphus, n.?1440–
12. zizz, v. 1883–
13. zizz, int. & n. 1824–
14. zizzing, n. 1884–
15. zizzing, adj. 1919–
16. zizzy, adj. 1843–
17. Zlid, n. 1616–1785
18. Z'life, n. 1689
19. Z line, n. 1916–
20. Z-list, n. & adj. 1979–
21. Z-lister, n. 1999–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Latin.
Etymon: Latin zīziphus.
< classical Latin zīziphus (in post-classical Latin also zizyfus) jujube tree (Columella) < Hellenistic Greek ζίζυϕον jujube tree, of unknown origin; probably a loanword.

Compare zizypha n., and also jujube n.…
< classical Latin zīziphus (in post-classical Latin also zizyfus) jujube tree (Columella) < Hellenistic Greek ζίζυϕον jujube tree, of unknown origin; probably a loanword.

Compare zizypha n., and also jujube n.

### Notes

Compare scientific Latin Ziziphus, genus name (P. Miller Gardener's Dict. (1768), after Tournefort (1700)). The form zizyphus was also widely used (e.g. in Rhamnus zizyphus Linnaeus 1753).

## Meaning & use

Botany.

1. ?1440–
   Any of various spiny shrubs or trees of warm and subtropical regions comprising the genus Ziziphus (family Rhamnaceae), several of which bear an edible fruit (see jujube n. 1). Cf. zizypha n.
   1. (?1440)

      > Now zizifus [c1450 Bodleian MS. Add. ȝiȝyphus; Latin zizyfum] in cold lond wole ascende.

      translation of Palladius, De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey MS.) (1896) vii. l. 84
      [Composed ?1440]
   2. 1597

      > Neither doth Columella or Plinie vnaduisedly take this for Ziziphus.

      J. Gerard, Herball 1307
   3. 1693

      > Oenoplia a sort of Zizyphus.

      N. Staphorst, translation of L. Rauwolf, Trav. Eastern Countries iii. viii, in J. Ray, Collection of Curious Travels vol. I. 325
   4. 1712

      > Jujuba, or Zizipha, a large Fruit of the Ziziph Tree.

      J. Browne, translation of P. Pomet et al. Compleat History of Druggs vol. I. 134
   5. 1741

      > It seems to me more probable that the Lotus of the Lotophagi is what we now call Zizyphus or the Jujube-tree.

      J. Martyn, translation of Virgil, Georgicks ii. 84 (note)
   6. 1865

      > The zizyphus and caper crept higher up the hills.

      H. B. Tristram, Land of Israel xxii. 527
   7. 1882

      > We are..still camped under a spreading ziziphus.

      E. A. Floyer, Unexplored Baluchistan 265
   8. 1890

      > The Crown of Thorns at Notre Dame is made of plaited reeds, in which ziziphus thorns are intertwined.

      Daily News 5 April 6/1
   9. 1919

      > For most of the year the water-holes sufficed them, the green, velvet dips, with zizyph-bushes fringing each hollow, which redeem the desert.

      E. J. Thompson, Leicestershires beyond Baghdad v. 110
   10. 1991

       > The canal was lined with new forests of tamarisk, ziziphus and mesquite.

       Traveller Winter 27/3
   plants
   1. zizyphus?1440–
      Any of various spiny shrubs or trees of warm and subtropical regions comprising the genus Ziziphus (family Rhamnaceae), several of which bear an…
   2. nabk 1836–
      Either of two thorny shrubs or small trees of the genus Ziziphus (family Rhamnaceae) that are native to the Middle East and North Africa, Z. lotus…
   3. crown of thorns 1852–
      A small, spiny, evergreen tree native to the Mediterranean region and Middle East, Ziziphus spina-christi (family Rhamnaceae), sometimes identified…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɪzᵻfəs/
ZIZ-uh-fuhss

### U.S. English

/ˈzɪzəfəs/
ZIZ-uh-fuhss

####

##### 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

### Variant forms

##### α.

1. late Middle English
   ȝiȝyphus, zizifus
2. late Middle English; 1800s–
   ziziphus
3. 1600s–
   zizyphus

##### β.

1. 1700s
   ziziph
2. 1800s–1900s
   zizyph

## Frequency

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

zizyphus 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 zizyphus, n., 1780–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1780 | 0.0066
1790 | 0.0062
1800 | 0.0095
1810 | 0.0086
1820 | 0.0066
1830 | 0.0085
1840 | 0.0097
1850 | 0.01
1860 | 0.01
1870 | 0.0076
1880 | 0.0075
1890 | 0.0071
1900 | 0.0059
1910 | 0.0054
1920 | 0.005
1930 | 0.0049
1940 | 0.0046
1950 | 0.0047
1960 | 0.0046
1970 | 0.0044
1980 | 0.0041
1990 | 0.0038
2000 | 0.0038
2010 | 0.0034

zizyphus, n. was revised in March 2021.

zizyphus, n. was last modified in July 2023.