zezenoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zeze mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zeze. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun zeze?
| 1850 | 0.003 |
| 1860 | 0.0028 |
| 1870 | 0.0025 |
| 1880 | 0.0023 |
| 1890 | 0.0023 |
| 1900 | 0.0011 |
| 1910 | 0.0009 |
| 1920 | 0.0008 |
| 1930 | 0.0007 |
| 1940 | 0.0007 |
| 1950 | 0.0008 |
| 1960 | 0.0009 |
| 1970 | 0.001 |
| 1980 | 0.0011 |
| 1990 | 0.0012 |
| 2000 | 0.0012 |
| 2010 | 0.0012 |
How is the noun zeze pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun zeze come from?
Earliest known use
1860s
The earliest known use of the noun zeze is in the 1860s.
OED's earliest evidence for zeze is from 1860, in a paper by Richard Burton, explorer and author.
zeze is a borrowing from Swahili.
Etymons: Swahili zeze.
Nearby entries
- zeugmatographic, adj.1973–
- zeugmatography, n.1973–
- zeunerite, n.1873–
- Zeus, n.¹1587–
- Zeus, n.²1601–
- Zeus-like, adj. & adv.1850–
- Zeuxian, adj.1635–
- Zeuxis, n.1577–
- Zeuxis-like, adj.1665–
- zeuxite, n.1836–
- zeze, n.1860–
- Zhdanovism, n.1958–
- Zhdanovist, adj.1966–
- Zhdanovite, adj.1957–
- zho, n.1841–
- zhomo, n.1841–
- zhuyin zimu, n.1938–
- zhuzh, n.1968–
- zhuzh, v.1970–
- zhuzhy, adj.1968–
- ziamet, n.1807–
Etymology
Summary
Notes
Meaning & use
- 1860–A stringed instrument of eastern and central Africa.The shape, size, construction, and manner of playing of the instrument have varied over time and according to geographical location.
- 1860
A combination of the zeze and kinanda is made by binding a dwarf hollow box.
R. F. Burton in Journal Royal Geogr. Society 1859 vol. 29 371 - 1874
The jantar is identical with the tzetze of Zanzibar and the herrauou of Madagascar, but it has two strings.
C. Engel, Descriptive Catalogue of Musical Instruments in South Kensington Museum (ed. 2) 162 - 1918
Zeze, or Sese. One string. Three frets. No resonator.
A. A. Stanley, Catalogue Stearns Coll. Musical Instruments 137 - 1978
A member of the Tanzania National Dance Troupe playing a 13-string zeze.
Times 19 August 3/3 (caption) - 2011
The guitar resembled the zeze of the Wagogo peoples.
A. Perullo, Live from Dar es Salaam ii. 45
- zither1831–A musical instrument of central European origin, having four or five strings over a fretboard for sounding the melody and thirty to forty…
- qin1839–A Chinese seven-stringed zither, played by plucking.
- zeze1860–A stringed instrument of eastern and central Africa.
- valiha?1866–A type of zither, typically tubular and traditionally made from bamboo, regarded as the national instrument of Madagascar.
- cither1871–Any of various plucked stringed instruments similar in form to, or believed to have derived from, the cithara; (in later use) esp. a zither.
- se1874–A twenty-five-stringed plucked musical instrument, somewhat similar to the zither.
- autoharp1882–A type of zither fitted with a series of sprung and padded bars which dampen selected strings when activated, allowing chords to be played easily.
- zither banjo1888–A type of five-stringed banjo with a closed back and a headstock like that of a guitar, the fifth string running through a tube in the neck from…
- gusli1893–A Russian musical instrument resembling a zither.
- langeleik1907–An early Norwegian stringed instrument, resembling the zither.
- kantele1921–A form of zither used in Finland and Karelia.
- Scheitholt1961–A former stringed instrument of central Europe, a precursor of the zither.
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
- 1800s–tzetze, zeze
- 1900s–sese
Frequency
zeze typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zeze 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 of zeze, n., 1850–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1850 | 0.003 |
| 1860 | 0.0028 |
| 1870 | 0.0025 |
| 1880 | 0.0023 |
| 1890 | 0.0023 |
| 1900 | 0.0011 |
| 1910 | 0.0009 |
| 1920 | 0.0008 |
| 1930 | 0.0007 |
| 1940 | 0.0007 |
| 1950 | 0.0008 |
| 1960 | 0.0009 |
| 1970 | 0.001 |
| 1980 | 0.0011 |
| 1990 | 0.0012 |
| 2000 | 0.0012 |
| 2010 | 0.0012 |