zeaxanthin, n.

zeaxanthin
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zeaxanthin_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zeaxanthinnoun

## Earlier version

- zeaxanthin in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zeaxanthin mean?

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

### How common is the noun zeaxanthin?

About 0.06occurrences per million words in modern written English

1920 | 0.018
1930 | 0.017
1940 | 0.019
1950 | 0.019
1960 | 0.028
1970 | 0.039
1980 | 0.049
1990 | 0.054
2000 | 0.062
2010 | 0.072

### How is the noun zeaxanthin pronounced?

#### British English

/ziːəˈzanθɪn/
zee-uh-ZAN-thin

#### U.S. English

/ˌziəˈzænθən/
zee-uh-ZAN-thuhn

### Where does the noun zeaxanthin come from?

Earliest known use

1920s

The earliest known use of the noun zeaxanthin is in the 1920s.

OED's earliest evidence for zeaxanthin is from 1929, in Chemical Abstracts.

zeaxanthin is a borrowing from German.

Etymons: German Zeaxanthin.

### Nearby entries

1. zealousy, n. 1542–
2. zeal-pretending, adj. 1652–69
3. zeal-quenching, adj. 1688–1877
4. zeal-scoffing, adj. 1605
5. zeal-transported, adj. a1644–59
6. zeal-worthy, adj. 1797
7. zea maize, n. 1811–
8. zearalanol, n. 1966–
9. zearalenone, n. 1966–
10. zeatin, n. 1963–
11. zeaxanthin, n.1929–
12. Zebedist, n. 1574
13. zebra, n. 1597–
14. zebra caterpillar, n. 1841–
15. zebra crossing, n. 1934–
16. zebra danio, n. 1917–
17. zebraed, adj. 1806–
18. zebra finch, n. 1868–
19. zebrafish, n. 1771–
20. zebraic, adj. 1858–
21. zebra marking, n. 1854–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from German.
Etymon: German Zeaxanthin.
< German Zeaxanthin (P. Karrer et al. 1929, in Helvetica Chim. Acta vol. 12 791) < scientific Latin Zea, genus name (see zea n.) + German Xanthin xanthin n.

## Meaning & use

Biochemistry.

1. 1929–
   A deep yellow carotenoid pigment present in the retina of the eye and in some plants and microorganisms, used as a food additive and supplement.
   High levels of zeaxanthin are found in maize (from which it was first isolated) and egg yolk, as well as brightly coloured fruits such as orange and yellow peppers, melons, and oranges. It often occurs naturally with the pigment lutein, of which it is an isomer.
   Chemical name: β,β-carotene-3,3'-diol; C40H56O2.
   1. 1929

      > Zeaxanthin, a new carotinoid pigment in maize.

      Chemical Abstracts vol. 23 4480 (heading)
   2. 1934

      > Xanthophyll (lutein) appears to be structurally related to α-carotene and zeaxanthin to β-carotene.

      Science 25 May 488/2
   3. 1997

      > Research shows that..lutein and zeaxanthin, two carotenoids, may stave off macular degeneration, a common cause of failing eyesight.

      Fitness November 56/4
   4. 2009

      > Key nutrients to maintain healthy eyes in old age are lutein and zeaxanthin; good sources are kiwi fruit, grapes, spinach and broccoli.

      Independent 13 January 17/2
   life sciences organic chemistry
   1. quercitrin 1833–
      A pale yellow crystalline glycoside obtained from quercitron bark, which yields quercetin and rhamnose on hydrolysis and is used as a dye.
   2. anthoxanthin 1836–
      Any of a class of yellow or white flavonoid pigments found in plants.
   3. xanthein 1857–
      That part of the yellow colouring-matter of flowers which is soluble in water: cf. xanthin, n. 1b.
   4. xanthin 1857–
      That part of the yellow colouring-matter of flowers which is insoluble in water: cf. xanthein, n.
   5. phycoxanthin 1873–
      A yellow-brown colouring matter present in various algae, esp. in diatoms and brown algae.
   6. phytochrome 1893–
      Xanthophyll; chlorophyll. rare and disused.
   7. zeaxanthin 1929–
      A deep yellow carotenoid pigment present in the retina of the eye and in some plants and microorganisms, used as a food additive and supplement.
   8. violaxanthin 1931–
      A xanthophyll pigment widely distributed in plant chloroplasts, where it is involved in biochemical responses to excessive light levels, and…
   9. xanthophyll 1931–
      Any of a group of yellow pigments (as lutein and violaxanthin) that are oxygenated carotenoids.
   10. phenicin 1933–
       A yellow-brown quinonoid pigment which occurs in certain fungi of the genus Penicillium; 3,3′-dihydroxy-5,5′-dimethyl-2,2′-bis-1,4-benzoquinone…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ziːəˈzanθɪn/
zee-uh-ZAN-thin

### U.S. English

/ˌziəˈzænθən/
zee-uh-ZAN-thuhn

####

##### 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

zeaxanthin typically occurs about 0.06 times per million words in modern written English.

zeaxanthin 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 data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zeaxanthin, n., 1920–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1920 | 0.018
1930 | 0.017
1940 | 0.019
1950 | 0.019
1960 | 0.028
1970 | 0.039
1980 | 0.049
1990 | 0.054
2000 | 0.062
2010 | 0.072

### Frequency of zeaxanthin, n., 2017–2024

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Modern frequency series are derived from a corpus of 20 billion words, covering the period from 2017 to the present. The corpus is mainly compiled from online news sources, and covers all major varieties of World English.

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 corpus.

Period | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
2017 | 0.042
2018 | 0.041
2019 | 0.042
2020 | 0.05
2021 | 0.057
2022 | 0.063
2023 | 0.069
2024 | 0.076

zeaxanthin, n. was revised in June 2018.

zeaxanthin, n. was last modified in July 2023.