Ziehl-Neelsennoun
Factsheet
What does the noun Ziehl-Neelsen mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun Ziehl-Neelsen. 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 Ziehl-Neelsen?
| 1890 | 0.038 |
| 1900 | 0.039 |
| 1910 | 0.048 |
| 1920 | 0.053 |
| 1930 | 0.06 |
| 1940 | 0.061 |
| 1950 | 0.058 |
| 1960 | 0.057 |
| 1970 | 0.055 |
| 1980 | 0.045 |
| 1990 | 0.039 |
| 2000 | 0.032 |
| 2010 | 0.029 |
Where does the noun Ziehl-Neelsen come from?
Earliest known use
1890s
The earliest known use of the noun Ziehl-Neelsen is in the 1890s.
OED's earliest evidence for Ziehl-Neelsen is from 1892, in the writing of George Sternberg.
Nearby entries
- zibeline, n.1585–
- zibet, n.1594–
- zibet-muff, n.1685
- zibib, n.1836–
- ziczac, n.1844–
- zidovudine, n.1987–
- Ziegfeld, n.1913–
- Ziegler, n.1957–
- Ziegler-Natta, n.1965–
- Ziehl, n.1892–
- Ziehl-Neelsen, n.1892–
- ziff, n.1917–
- ZIFT, n.1988–
- zig, n.1978–
- zig, v.1969–
- Zigeuner, n. & adj.1802–
- Zigeunerin, n.1845–83
- ziggety, int., adj., & adv.1924–
- ziggurat, n.1873–
- zigzag, n., adj., & adv.1712–
- zigzag, v.1777–
Etymology
Meaning & use
- 1892–Applied to a method for identifying acid-fast organisms such as tubercle bacilli by staining with Ziehl's stain, decolorizing with sulfuric acid (and sometimes also alcohol), and counterstaining with methylene blue: acid-fast organisms retain the original red colour.
- 1892
The Ziehl-Neelson [sic] method.
G. M. Sternberg, Manual of Bacteriology i. iv. 30 (heading) - 1974
Mycobacterium..tuberculosis..stained by the Ziehl-Neelsen method is acid-fast and alcohol-fast.
R. M. Kirk et al., Surgery ii. 21
- stained1889–Prepared with a staining preparation, esp. for microscopic observation.
- Ziehl-Neelsen1892–Applied to a method for identifying acid-fast organisms such as tubercle bacilli by staining with Ziehl's stain, decolorizing with sulfuric acid…
- cyanophilous1895–Readily stained by blue and green dyes.
- trichrome1918–= trichromatic, adj.; spec. applied to a stain and method of staining in which different kinds of tissue are stained in one or other of three…
- polychromed1924–Biology. Of a stain or dye: converted to a polychrome form. Now rare.
- Feulgen1928–Used attributively or occasionally in the possessive to denote the methods and materials used by Feulgen, and the reaction involved, in…
- destained1930–
- cytophotometric1952–Of or relating to cytophotometry; involving the use of a cytophotometer.
- immunofluorescent1959–Of, relating to, or using immunofluorescence; exhibiting immunofluorescence.
Frequency
Ziehl-Neelsen typically occurs about 0.04 times per million words in modern written English.
Ziehl-Neelsen 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 of Ziehl-Neelsen, n., 1890–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1890 | 0.038 |
| 1900 | 0.039 |
| 1910 | 0.048 |
| 1920 | 0.053 |
| 1930 | 0.06 |
| 1940 | 0.061 |
| 1950 | 0.058 |
| 1960 | 0.057 |
| 1970 | 0.055 |
| 1980 | 0.045 |
| 1990 | 0.039 |
| 2000 | 0.032 |
| 2010 | 0.029 |