zebrano, n.

zebrano
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zebrano_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zebranonoun

## Earlier version

- zebrano in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zebrano mean?

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

### How common is the noun zebrano?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1930 | 0.0019
1940 | 0.0019
1950 | 0.0021
1960 | 0.0019
1970 | 0.0018
1980 | 0.002
1990 | 0.002
2000 | 0.0016
2010 | 0.0015

### How is the noun zebrano pronounced?

#### British English

/zᵻˈbrɑːnəʊ/
zuh-BRAH-noh

#### U.S. English

/zᵻˈbrɑnoʊ/
zuh-BRAH-noh

### Where does the noun zebrano come from?

Earliest known use

1900s

The earliest known use of the noun zebrano is in the 1900s.

OED's earliest evidence for zebrano is from 1908, in Timber Trades Journal.

zebrano is formed within English, by derivation.

Etymons: zebra n.

### Nearby entries

1. zebra crossing, n. 1934–
2. zebra danio, n. 1917–
3. zebraed, adj. 1806–
4. zebra finch, n. 1868–
5. zebrafish, n. 1771–
6. zebraic, adj. 1858–
7. zebra marking, n. 1854–
8. zebra moray, n. 1933–
9. zebra mule, n. 1841–
10. zebra mussel, n. 1866–
11. zebrano, n.1908–
12. zebra opossum, n. 1808–
13. zebra parakeet, n. 1856–
14. zebra plant, n. 1826–
15. zebra poison, n. 1871–74
16. zebra print, n. & adj. 1932–
17. zebra rhomb, n. 1770–1844
18. zebra rock, n. 1895–
19. zebra rush, n. 1882–
20. zebra shark, n. 1804–
21. zebra skin, n. 1774–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by derivation.
Etymon: zebra n.
Irregularly < zebra n. + an apparently arbitrary ending.

## Meaning & use

1. 1908–
   More fully zebrano wood. The striped wood of any of various species of African trees, esp. those of the genus Microberlinia (family Fabaceae), which is pale with darker streaks and commonly used to make veneers and furniture. Cf. zebrawood n.
   1. 1908

      > In our note last week on Mr. Spillemaecker's new veneer we inadvertently named it Zebraus instead of giving it its proper title, ‘Zebrano’.

      Timber Trades Journal 27 June 1830/2
   2. 1934

      > The furniture is in Indian rosewood and Japanese chestnut and the panelling in zebrano.

      Architectural Review vol. 75 144 (caption)
   3. 1952

      > The cabinet is constructed of African Zebrano wood.

      Billboard 16 August 79
   4. 1980

      > Microberlinia brazzavillensis Zebrano. Normally coarse texture; interlocked grain.

      E. Scott, Illustrated Encycl. Working in Wood 248
   5. 2006

      > I love the old parquet floors and the zebrano tables, and the kitchen is at the top of its game.

      Guardian 5 July (Guide Supplement) 35/2
   woodworking
   1. speckle-wood 1619–
      (See speckled, adj. compounds C.1b).
   2. speckled wood 1657–
      a. A variety of wood having speckled markings; esp. the South American snake-wood or letter-wood, Brosimum aubletii; b. a brown butterfly with…
   3. pigeon wood?1740–
      Any of various tropical or subtropical New World trees or shrubs providing wood used in cabinetwork or building, or having fruit which is sought…
   4. zebrawood 1768–
      The striped wood of any of various tropical trees and shrubs, esp. of the genera Connarus (family Connaraceae) and Microberlinia (family Fabaceae)…
   5. snake-wood 1843–
      The wood of the South American timber-tree Brosimum Aubletii (or Piratinera guianensis), so called from its snake-like markings; letter-wood; also…
   6. tiger-wood 1858–
      A streaked black and brown cabinet-maker's wood: = itaka-wood, n.; also, a variety of citron-wood. See also tiger-cat, n.
   7. tortoise-wood 1866–
      See quot.
   8. zebrano 1908–
      More fully zebrano wood. The striped wood of any of various species of African trees, esp. those of the genus Microberlinia (family Fabaceae)…
   9. zingana 1911–
      The striped wood of any of various African trees, especially from a leguminous tree of the genus Microberlinia.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zᵻˈbrɑːnəʊ/
zuh-BRAH-noh

### U.S. English

/zᵻˈbrɑnoʊ/
zuh-BRAH-noh

####

##### 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

## Frequency

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

zebrano 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 zebrano, n., 1930–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1930 | 0.0019
1940 | 0.0019
1950 | 0.0021
1960 | 0.0019
1970 | 0.0018
1980 | 0.002
1990 | 0.002
2000 | 0.0016
2010 | 0.0015

zebrano, n. was revised in June 2018.

zebrano, n. was last modified in July 2023.