zimb, n.

zimb
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zimb_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1921; not fully revised

# zimbnoun

## Earlier version

- zimb in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zimb mean?

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

#### Entry status

OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.

### How common is the noun zimb?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1790 | 0.011
1800 | 0.011
1810 | 0.0096
1820 | 0.009
1830 | 0.0071
1840 | 0.0067
1850 | 0.0056
1860 | 0.0047
1870 | 0.0035
1880 | 0.0032
1890 | 0.0025
1900 | 0.0014
1910 | 0.0006
1920 | 0.0004
1930 | 0.0004
1940 | 0.0002
1950 | 0.0002
1960 | 0.0001
1970 | 0.0001
1980 | 0.0002
1990 | 0.0001
2000 | 0.0001
2010 | 0.0001

### How is the noun zimb pronounced?

#### British English

/zɪmb/

### Where does the noun zimb come from?

Earliest known use

late 1700s

The earliest known use of the noun zimb is in the late 1700s.

OED's earliest evidence for zimb is from 1790, in the writing of James Bruce, traveller in Africa.

zimb is a borrowing from Amharic.

### Nearby entries

1. zilch, v. 1957–
2. zill, n. 1754–
3. zilla, n. 1772–
4. -zilla, comb. form
5. zilladar, n. 1763–
6. Zil lane, n. 1985–
7. zilla parishad, n. 1957–
8. zillion, n. & adj. 1920–
9. zillionaire, n. 1926–
10. zillionth, n. & adj. 1940–
11. zimb, n.1790–
12. Zimba, n. 1625–
13. Zimbabwe, n. 1891–
14. Zimbabwean, adj. & n. 1961–
15. zimbel, n. 1888–
16. zimme, n. 1848–63
17. Zimmer, n. 1951–
18. zina, n. 1817–
19. zinc, n. 1651–
20. zinc, v. 1843–
21. zinc-air, adj. 1970–

## Etymology

Amharic.

## Meaning & use

1. 1790–
   A dipterous insect of Ethiopia, allied to and resembling the tsetse, and very destructive to cattle.
   1. 1790

      > Large swarms of flies appeared wherever that loomy earth was... This insect is called Zimb... It is in size very little larger than a bee.

      J. Bruce, Travels Source of Nile vol. I. 388
   2. a1827

      > He spake, and the zimb-fly came.

      Good, Ps. cv. 31 (1854) 415
   agriculture insects
   1. zimb 1790–
      A dipterous insect of Ethiopia, allied to and resembling the tsetse, and very destructive to cattle.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zɪmb/

####

##### 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.

## Frequency

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

zimb is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 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 zimb, n., 1790–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1790 | 0.011
1800 | 0.011
1810 | 0.0096
1820 | 0.009
1830 | 0.0071
1840 | 0.0067
1850 | 0.0056
1860 | 0.0047
1870 | 0.0035
1880 | 0.0032
1890 | 0.0025
1900 | 0.0014
1910 | 0.0006
1920 | 0.0004
1930 | 0.0004
1940 | 0.0002
1950 | 0.0002
1960 | 0.0001
1970 | 0.0001
1980 | 0.0002
1990 | 0.0001
2000 | 0.0001
2010 | 0.0001

zimb, n. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.

zimb, n. was last modified in December 2024.