Zionward, adv.

zionward
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zionward_adv%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2021

# Zionwardadverb

## Earlier version

- Zionward(s, adv. in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the adverb Zionward mean?

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

### How common is the adverb Zionward?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1770 | 0.0054
1780 | 0.0069
1790 | 0.0077
1800 | 0.01
1810 | 0.014
1820 | 0.02
1830 | 0.024
1840 | 0.028
1850 | 0.029
1860 | 0.03
1870 | 0.029
1880 | 0.024
1890 | 0.019
1900 | 0.014
1910 | 0.01
1920 | 0.0074
1930 | 0.0047
1940 | 0.0032
1950 | 0.0026
1960 | 0.0023
1970 | 0.0016
1980 | 0.0014
1990 | 0.0013
2000 | 0.0012
2010 | 0.0011

### How is the adverb Zionward pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzʌɪənwəd/
ZIGH-uhn-wuhd

#### U.S. English

/ˈzaɪənwərd/
ZIGH-uhn-wuhrd

### Where does the adverb Zionward come from?

Earliest known use

mid 1600s

The earliest known use of the adverb Zionward is in the mid 1600s.

OED's earliest evidence for Zionward is from 1647, in the writing of John Carter, Church of England clergyman.

Zionward is formed within English, by derivation.

Etymons: Zion n., ‑ward suffix.

### Nearby entries

1. Zinovievite, adj. & n. 1936–
2. Zinoviev letter, n. 1924–
3. Zion, n. Old English–
4. Zion Curtain, n. 1951–
5. Zioner, n. 1681–1760
6. Zionism, n. 1896–
7. Zionist, n. & adj. a1649–
8. Zionistic, adj. 1887–
9. Zionite, n. 1596–
10. Zionless, adj. 1908
11. Zionward, adv.1647–
12. Zionwards, adv. 1674–
13. zip, n.² & adj. 1900–
14. zip, n.³ 1962–
15. zip, n.⁴ 1968–
16. zip, v.¹ 1852–
17. zip, v.² 1964–
18. zip, int. & n.¹ 1678–
19. zip-a-dee-doo-dah, int. & adj. 1945–
20. zip code, n. 1962–
21. zip-code, v. 1962–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by derivation.
< Zion n. + ‑ward suffix.

## Meaning & use

Now rare.

1. 1647–
   Towards or in the direction of an idealized place or society (see Zion n. 2a); esp. heavenwards; = Zionwards adv.
   1. 1647

      > O wheels roll, run Sion-ward: let your eyes, your spokes, your rings all turn heaven-ward.

      J. Carter, Nail & Wheel 96
   2. 1705

      > I am sure there are too few yt sett their faces Zionward, here in this Town.

      R. Smyth, Letter 17 February in Letters J. Pinney (1939) 117
   3. 1836

      > They are too polite to travel Zionward in such company, and would rather sacrifice heaven altogether.

      H. Smith, Tin Trumpet vol. I. 112
   4. 2006

      > Ness Tziona..actually means ‘Banner (or Standard) toward Zion (or Zionward)’.

      Jerusalem Post (Nexis) 4 September 14
   1. Zionward 1647–
      Towards or in the direction of an idealized place or society (see Zion, n. 2a); esp. heavenwards; = Zionwards, adv.
   2. Zionwards 1674–
      Towards or in the direction of an idealized place or society (see Zion, n. 2a); esp. heavenwards; = Zionward, adv.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzʌɪənwəd/
ZIGH-uhn-wuhd

### U.S. English

/ˈzaɪənwərd/
ZIGH-uhn-wuhrd

####

##### 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

See Zion n. and ‑ward suffix.

## Frequency

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

Zionward 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 Zionward, adv., 1770–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1770 | 0.0054
1780 | 0.0069
1790 | 0.0077
1800 | 0.01
1810 | 0.014
1820 | 0.02
1830 | 0.024
1840 | 0.028
1850 | 0.029
1860 | 0.03
1870 | 0.029
1880 | 0.024
1890 | 0.019
1900 | 0.014
1910 | 0.01
1920 | 0.0074
1930 | 0.0047
1940 | 0.0032
1950 | 0.0026
1960 | 0.0023
1970 | 0.0016
1980 | 0.0014
1990 | 0.0013
2000 | 0.0012
2010 | 0.0011

Zionward, adv. was revised in March 2021.

Zionward, adv. was last modified in July 2023.