zircaloynoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zircaloy mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zircaloy. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun zircaloy?
| 1950 | 0.021 |
| 1960 | 0.018 |
| 1970 | 0.016 |
| 1980 | 0.015 |
| 1990 | 0.017 |
| 2000 | 0.013 |
| 2010 | 0.012 |
How is the noun zircaloy pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun zircaloy come from?
Earliest known use
1950s
The earliest known use of the noun zircaloy is in the 1950s.
OED's earliest evidence for zircaloy is from 1953, in a text by J. W. Holladay et al.
zircaloy is formed within English, by compounding.
Etymons: zirconium n., alloy n.
Nearby entries
- zip-tie, v.1985–
- zip top, n.1926–
- zip-up, adj. & n.1927–
- zip wire, n.1971–
- zir, pron.1993–
- zir, adj.1993–
- ziraleet, n.1794–
- ziram, n.1950–
- zirbal, adj.?a1425–
- zirbus, n.a1400–
- zircaloy, n.1953–
- zircon, n.1794–
- zirconate, n.1820–
- zircon blue, n. & adj.1928–
- zircon earth, n.1794–
- zirconia, n.1794–
- zirconian, adj.1802–
- zirconic, adj.1804–
- zirconite, n.1806–
- zirconitic, adj.1883–
- zirconium, n.1808–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1953–Any of several alloys of zirconium with tin and other metals, used chiefly as cladding for nuclear fuel rods. Frequently with following numeral specifying a particular alloy.
- 1953
This 2.5 wt % tin alloy is now referred to as Zircaloy 1.
J. W. Holladay et al., Core Shape of Fuel Elements Clad with Zirconium Alloy (Battelle Memorial Inst.) 9 - 1963
Zircaloy resists corrosion very well in high-temperature water and steam.
H. R. Clauser, Encyclopedia of Engineering Materials 769/1 - 1977
Zircaloy is used to designate a series of zirconium, tin, iron, chromium, nickel alloys developed by the U.S. Navy Nuclear Propulsion Program for nuclear service in water-cooled reactors. Zircaloy-1 and Zircaloy-3 are obsolete. Zircaloy-2 and Zircaloy-4 are the most commonly used alloys in nuclear service.
J. H. Schemel, ASTM Manual Zirconium & Hafnium (ASTM Special Technical Publ. No. 639) i. 6 - 2017
PWRs [= pressurized water reactors] traditionally use Zircaloy-4 for the fuel cladding.
B. J. Lewis et al., Fund. Nuclear Engin. iv. 197
society occupation and work materials derived or manufactured material metal alloy [nouns] other alloys of tin- steel1662–Applied (after Italian acciaio; cf. steel glass, n. 2) to: An alloy of tin and copper used for making optical ‘spheres’. Obsolete. rare.
- potin1741–Archaeology. An alloy of copper and tin, usually with lead and zinc (sometimes perhaps with silver), formerly used in the manufacture of coins…
- queen's metal1785–Any of several alloys of tin and antimony with other metals, resembling Britannia metal and formerly used for tableware, teapots, etc.; also figur…
- tutania1790–An earlier name for Britannia-metal.
- Britannia metal1800–An alloy consisting chiefly of tin, antimony, and copper, resembling silver in appearance and formerly much used for cheap tableware; also called w…
- babbitt metal1850–Any of various alloys of tin with smaller quantities of antimony, copper, and usually lead, which are typically used as linings in bearings and…
- babbitt1866–Short for babbitt metal n. at sense I.1.
- zircaloy1953–Any of several alloys of zirconium with tin and other metals, used chiefly as cladding for nuclear fuel rods. Frequently with following numeral…
Pronunciation
British English
U.S. English
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
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
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
- 1900s–zircalloy, zircaloy, zirkalloy, zirkaloy
Frequency
zircaloy typically occurs about 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zircaloy 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 of zircaloy, n., 1950–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1950 | 0.021 |
| 1960 | 0.018 |
| 1970 | 0.016 |
| 1980 | 0.015 |
| 1990 | 0.017 |
| 2000 | 0.013 |
| 2010 | 0.012 |