zygomorphicadjective
Factsheet
What does the adjective zygomorphic mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the adjective zygomorphic. 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 adjective zygomorphic?
| 1870 | 0.035 |
| 1880 | 0.039 |
| 1890 | 0.04 |
| 1900 | 0.041 |
| 1910 | 0.048 |
| 1920 | 0.053 |
| 1930 | 0.049 |
| 1940 | 0.045 |
| 1950 | 0.041 |
| 1960 | 0.037 |
| 1970 | 0.033 |
| 1980 | 0.03 |
| 1990 | 0.026 |
| 2000 | 0.023 |
| 2010 | 0.022 |
How is the adjective zygomorphic pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the adjective zygomorphic come from?
Earliest known use
1870s
The earliest known use of the adjective zygomorphic is in the 1870s.
OED's only evidence for zygomorphic is from 1875, in a translation by Alfred Bennett, botanist and publisher, and William Thiselton-Dyer, botanist.
zygomorphic is a borrowing from Greek, combined with an English element.
Etymons: Greek ζυγόν, ‑morphic comb. form.
Nearby entries
- zygodactylic, adj.1835–
- zygodactylous, adj.1828–
- zygodont, adj.1888–
- zygogenesis, n.1950–
- zygology, n.1970–
- zygoma, n.1684–
- zygomatic, adj. & n.1712–
- zygomatico-, comb. form
- zygomato-, comb. form
- zygomere, n.1966–
- zygomorphic, adj.1875–
- zygomorphism, n.1875–
- zygomorphous, adj.1879–
- Zygomycetes, n.1887–
- zygomycetous, adj.1928–
- zygon, n.1886–
- zygonema, n.1911–
- zygoneurous, adj.1901–
- zygophiuran, adj. & n.1892–
- zygophore, n.1904–
- zygophyllaceous, adj.1887–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1875–Applied to a flower that is symmetrical about a single plane, i.e. divisible into similar lateral halves in only one way; = monosymmetrical adj.
- 1875
In Orchids both whorls are developed in a petaloid, and like the whole flower in a zygomorphic or monosymmetrical manner.
A. W. Bennett & W. T. T. Dyer, translation of J. von Sachs, Text-book of Botany 526
the world plants part of plant reproductive part(s) flower or part containing reproductive organs [adjectives] having specific arrangement or number of member parts- regular1760–Botany. Of a flower, corolla, calyx, etc.: having its parts uniform in form and size; radially symmetric.
- decandrous1808–Characterized by ten stamens.
- irregular1826–Botany and Zoology. Not having a definite, symmetrical, or uniform shape or arrangement; spec. of a flower, Having the members of the same cycle…
- tetramerous1835–Having, consisting of, or characterized by four parts: spec.. Botany. Having the parts of the flower-whorl in series of four. (Often written 4-merous…
- hendecagynous1845–89Having eleven pistils.
- pentamerous1848–Botany. Having five parts, or parts in groups or multiples of five. (Often written 5-merous.)
- symmetrical1849–Botany. Of a flower: Having the same number of parts in each whorl: = isomerous, adj. 1.
- hexamerous1857–Botany. Having the parts of the flower-whorl six in number. (Often written 6-merous.)
- isomerous1857–Botany. Of a flower: Having the same number of parts in each whorl. (Said also of the whorls.) Opposed to heteromerous, adj. 2b.
- octamerous1857–Having parts arranged in groups of eight; having eight parts of a particular type.
- anisomerous1861–Not having equal, or the same number of, parts, unsymmetrical; esp. in Bot. having unequal numbers of parts in different whorls.
- octomeral1871–Having parts arranged in groups of eight; = octamerous, adj.
- hemicyclic1875–Applied to flowers which have the parts arranged spirally in such a manner that the transition from one series to another (e.g. from petals to…
- zygomorphic1875–Applied to a flower that is symmetrical about a single plane, i.e. divisible into similar lateral halves in only one way; = monosymmetrical, adj.
- haplostemonous1878–(Of a plant or a flower) having a single whorl or row of stamens; cf. diplostemonous, adj.
- zygomorphous1879–Opposed to actinomorphous, adj.
- tetracyclic1880–Having four cycles or circles; spec. in Botany, having four whorls of floral organs.
- heteromerous1882–Botany. Applied to flowers in which the members differ in number in the different whorls: opposed to isomerous.
- five-merous1888–= pentamerous, adj.
- heterocyclic1895–Botany. = heteromerous, adj. 2b.
- oligomerous1897–Botany. Having fewer divisions or parts than normal.
- pleiomerous1898–Of a floral whorl or flower: having more than the normal number of parts.
- Having ten sepals.
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
Frequency
zygomorphic typically occurs about 0.03 times per million words in modern written English.
zygomorphic 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 zygomorphic, adj., 1870–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1870 | 0.035 |
| 1880 | 0.039 |
| 1890 | 0.04 |
| 1900 | 0.041 |
| 1910 | 0.048 |
| 1920 | 0.053 |
| 1930 | 0.049 |
| 1940 | 0.045 |
| 1950 | 0.041 |
| 1960 | 0.037 |
| 1970 | 0.033 |
| 1980 | 0.03 |
| 1990 | 0.026 |
| 2000 | 0.023 |
| 2010 | 0.022 |