zygodactylic, adj.

zygodactylic
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zygodactylic_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1921; not fully revised

# zygodactylicadjective

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective zygodactylic mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the adjective zygodactylic. 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 adjective zygodactylic?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1830 | 0.0007
1840 | 0.0006
1850 | 0.0006
1860 | 0.0006
1870 | 0.0003
1880 | 0.0004
1890 | 0.0003
1900 | 0.0003
1910 | 0.0004
1920 | 0.0003
1930 | 0.0001
1940 | 0.0001
1950 | 0.00006
1960 | 0.00005
1970 | 0.00005
1980 | 0.00004
1990 | 0.00004
2000 | 0.00005
2010 | 0.00004

### Where does the adjective zygodactylic come from?

Earliest known use

1830s

The earliest known use of the adjective zygodactylic is in the 1830s.

OED's only evidence for zygodactylic is from 1835, in the writing of Charles Partington, writer and lecturer on technology and practical science.

### Nearby entries

1. zygapophysis, n. 1854–
2. zygite, n. 1888–
3. zygnemaceous, adj.
4. zygnemid, n. 1887–
5. zygnomic, adj. 1926–
6. zygo-, comb. form
7. zygobranchiate, adj. 1883–
8. zygocactus, n. 1950–
9. zygocardiac, adj. 1877–
10. zygodactyl, adj. & n. 1831–
11. zygodactylic, adj.1835–
12. zygodactylous, adj. 1828–
13. zygodont, adj. 1888–
14. zygogenesis, n. 1950–
15. zygology, n. 1970–
16. zygoma, n. 1684–
17. zygomatic, adj. & n. 1712–
18. zygomatico-, comb. form
19. zygomato-, comb. form
20. zygomere, n. 1966–
21. zygomorphic, adj. 1875–

## Meaning & use

Ornithology.

1. 1835–
   See zygodactyl adj.
   Stressed as zygodacˈtylic.
   1. 1835

      > Feet which accomplish these purposes are all zygodactylic, or yoke-toed.

      C. F. Partington, British Cyclopaedia Natural History vol. I. 445/1
   birds
   1. zygodactylous 1828–
   2. yoke-toed 1831–
      Having toes arranged so that two point forward and two point backward; cf. zygodactylous, adj.
   3. zygodactyl 1831–
      Having the toes ‘yoked’ or arranged in pairs, i.e. two before and two behind, as the feet of a scansorial bird, or the bird itself; yoke-toed.
   4. anisodactylic 1834–
      Unequal-toed (said of those insessorial birds called by Temminck Anisodactyles).
   5. zygodactylic 1835–
   6. lark-heeled 1837–
      (See quots.)
   7. short-toed 1837–
      Having short toes; esp. in short-toed lark, any of various larks of the genera Calandrella and Spizocorys, which comprise small gregarious birds…
   8. heterodactylous 1854–
      Having the toes, or one of them, irregular or abnormal, as certain families of birds (Ogilvie, 1882).
   9. pair-toed 1868–
      (Of a bird) having the toes in pairs, two in front and two behind; zygodactylous.
   10. sympelmous 1885–
       Having the tendons of the deep flexors of the toes united before separating to each of the four digits.
   11. pamprodactylous 1889–
       Of a bird's foot: having all the toes pointing forward.
   12. pigeon-toed 1890
       Ornithology. Of a bird: having feet similar to those of pigeons, with the hind toe inserted at the same level as the other toes. Cf. peristeropod…
   13. pamprodactyl 1934–
       = pamprodactylous, adj.
   14. synpelmous
       Bad form of sympelmous (see sym-, prefix).
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

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

zygodactylic is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 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 zygodactylic, adj., 1830–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1830 | 0.0007
1840 | 0.0006
1850 | 0.0006
1860 | 0.0006
1870 | 0.0003
1880 | 0.0004
1890 | 0.0003
1900 | 0.0003
1910 | 0.0004
1920 | 0.0003
1930 | 0.0001
1940 | 0.0001
1950 | 0.00006
1960 | 0.00005
1970 | 0.00005
1980 | 0.00004
1990 | 0.00004
2000 | 0.00005
2010 | 0.00004

Originally published as part of the entry for zygodactyl, adj. & n.

zygodactyl, adj. & n. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.