zoysia, n.

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

# zoysianoun

## Earlier version

- zoysia in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zoysia mean?

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

About 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

2017 | 0.003
2018 | 0.0022
2019 | 0.0018
2020 | 0.0026
2021 | 0.0033
2022 | 0.0038
2023 | 0.0048
2024 | 0.0064

### How is the noun zoysia pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɔɪzɪə/

### Where does the noun zoysia come from?

Earliest known use

1960s

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

OED's earliest evidence for zoysia is from 1965, in the writing of M. C. Neal.

zoysia is a borrowing from Latin.

### Nearby entries

1. zos-grass, n. 1937–
2. zoster, n. 1601–
3. zostera, n. 1819–
4. zosterops, n. 1867–
5. Zouave, n. 1848–
6. zouk, n. 1986–
7. zounds, v. 1680
8. zounds, int. a1593–
9. Zou-Zou, n. 1860–
10. zowie, int. 1902–
11. zoysia, n.1965–
12. ZPG, n. 1970–
13. Zr, n. 1814–
14. zubr, n. 1763–
15. zubrowka, n. 1916–
16. zucarine, adj. a1425
17. zucca, n. 1818–
18. zucchetto, n. 1853–
19. zucchini, n. 1916–
20. zuche, n. 1358–1676
21. Zuckerkandl, n. 1910–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Latin.
modern Latin (C. L. Wildenow 1801, in Neue Schriften Gesellsch. Naturfreunde Berlin III. 440), < the name of Carl von Zoys zu Laubach (1756–1800), Austrian botanist + ‑ia suffix1.

## Meaning & use

1. 1965–
   A perennial grass of the genus of this name, native to eastern Asia, and sometimes used for lawns in subtropical regions. Also zoysia grass.
   1. 1965

      > Zoysia, a turf-forming grass from the Mascarene Islands has proved excellent for lawns in Hawaii.

      M. C. Neal, In Gardens of Hawaii 67
   2. 1968

      > Southern lawns and other turfs are mainly..zoysia grasses.

      F. W. Gould, Grass Systematics i. 6
   3. 1969

      > It was fronted by a rectangle of zoysia grass.

      ‘J. Morris’, Fever Grass viii. 69
   4. 1974

      > For bermuda or zoysia type lawns, [cut] one-half to three-quarters of an inch.

      Marlboro Herald-Advocate (Bennettsville, South Carolina) 18 April 11/2
   5. 1982

      > Zoysia lawns along curving and curbed streets.

      Birmingham (Alabama) Post-Herald 22 June a3/1
   plants
   1. cogon 1839–
      More fully cogon grass. A tall perennial rhizomatous grass, Imperata cylindrica, native to southwest Asia and found worldwide as an invasive weed.
   2. barnyard grass 1843–
      Any of several grasses of the genus Echinochloa; spec. the cockspur grass E. crus-galli, which is native to tropical Asia and now widely…
   3. mand 1862
      An Indian food grain; = ragi, n.
   4. illuk 1864–
      The name used in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) for a coarse grass, Imperata cylindrica; = lalang, n.
   5. spear-grass 1864–
      One or other of several Asiatic grasses or plants.
   6. zoysia 1965–
      A perennial grass of the genus of this name, native to eastern Asia, and sometimes used for lawns in subtropical regions. Also zoysia grass.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. rooigras 1875–
      Any of several grasses or grass-like plants having a reddish colouring; esp. the southern African grass Themeda triandra, which turns a reddish…
   2. Paspalum 1906–
      A large genus of tropical and subtropical (esp. South American) grasses which have unilateral racemes bearing adpressed spikelets and which…
   3. kunai 1933–
      A large coarse grass, Imperata cylindrica, found in tropical Asia, Australia, and the Pacific region; also called blady grass (blady, adj.) and lalang…
   4. zoysia 1965–
      A perennial grass of the genus of this name, native to eastern Asia, and sometimes used for lawns in subtropical regions. Also zoysia grass.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɔɪzɪə/

####

##### 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.

## Frequency

zoysia typically occurs about 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zoysia 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 zoysia, 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 | 0.016
1970 | 0.015
1980 | 0.014
1990 | 0.014
2000 | 0.015
2010 | 0.013

### Frequency of zoysia, 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 | 0.003
2018 | 0.0022
2019 | 0.0018
2020 | 0.0026
2021 | 0.0033
2022 | 0.0038
2023 | 0.0048
2024 | 0.0064

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

zoysia, n. was last modified in December 2024.