zoolite, n.

zoolite
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoolite_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2017

# zoolitenoun

## Earlier version

- zoolite in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zoolite mean?

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

### How common is the noun zoolite?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1780 | 0.002
1790 | 0.002
1800 | 0.0028
1810 | 0.0028
1820 | 0.0028
1830 | 0.0029
1840 | 0.0029
1850 | 0.003
1860 | 0.0027
1870 | 0.0018
1880 | 0.0015
1890 | 0.0009
1900 | 0.0006
1910 | 0.0003
1920 | 0.0004
1930 | 0.0003
1940 | 0.0003
1950 | 0.0003
1960 | 0.0003
1970 | 0.0003
1980 | 0.0002
1990 | 0.0002
2000 | 0.0002
2010 | 0.0002

### How is the noun zoolite pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzəʊəlʌɪt/
ZOH-uh-light
/ˈzuː(ə)lʌɪt/
ZOO-uh-light

#### U.S. English

/ˈzu(ə)ˌlaɪt/
ZOO-uh-light
/ˈzoʊəˌlaɪt/
ZOH-uh-light

### Where does the noun zoolite come from?

Earliest known use

mid 1700s

The earliest known use of the noun zoolite is in the mid 1700s.

OED's earliest evidence for zoolite is from 1768, in the writing of Reinhold Forster.

zoolite is formed within English, by compounding; modelled on a French lexical item.

Etymons: zoo- comb. form, ‑lite comb. form1.

### Nearby entries

1. zooid, adj. 1849
2. zooidal, adj. 1858–
3. zooidogamous, adj. 1891–
4. zookeeper, n. 1886–
5. zookeeping, n. 1929–
6. Zookers, int. 1620–
7. Zooks, int. 1600–
8. zoolater, n. 1876–
9. zoolatrous, adj. 1876–
10. zoolatry, n. 1784–
11. zoolite, n.1768–
12. zoologer, n. 1663–
13. zoologic, adj. 1766–
14. zoological, adj. & n. 1686–
15. zoological garden, n. 1827–
16. zoologically, adv. 1799–
17. zoologico-, comb. form
18. zoologico-archaeologist, n. 1864
19. zoologist, n. 1663–
20. zoologize, v. 1830–
21. zoologizing, n. 1815–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by compounding; modelled on a French lexical item.
Etymons: zoo- comb. form, ‑lite comb. form1.
< zoo- comb. form + ‑lite comb. form1, after French zoolite (1752 or earlier), probably itself after scientific Latin zoolithus (1748 or earlier).

## Meaning & use

1. 1768–
   A fossil animal.
   1. 1768

      > The Zoolites.

      J. R. Forster, Introduction to Mineralogy 24 (heading)
   2. 1822

      > Where M. Esper, the narrator, expected to be left to augment the number of zoolites contained in these terrific mansions [sc. caves].

      J. Parkinson, Outline Oryctology 327
   3. 1868

      > Among these curiosities are some exceedingly fine marine zoolites.

      Morning Post 11 August 6/1
   4. 1903

      > Zoolites are to be found here. The writer recently picked up on Barricane beach a small but perfect petrified anemone.

      Pict. & Descr. Guide to Ilfracombe (ed. 4) 25
   5. 1972

      > Zoolite, an animal fossil.

      Glossary Geology (American Geol. Inst.) 805/2
   6. 2016

      > Zoolites including brackish bivalves could also be observed.

      J. Dai et al., Giant Coal-derived Gas Fields & their Gas Sources China iii. 155
   palaeontology

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzəʊəlʌɪt/
ZOH-uh-light
/ˈzuː(ə)lʌɪt/
ZOO-uh-light

### U.S. English

/ˈzu(ə)ˌlaɪt/
ZOO-uh-light
/ˈzoʊəˌlaɪt/
ZOH-uh-light

####

##### 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

## Forms

### Variant forms

See zoo- comb. form and ‑lite comb. form1.

## Frequency

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

zoolite 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 zoolite, n., 1780–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1780 | 0.002
1790 | 0.002
1800 | 0.0028
1810 | 0.0028
1820 | 0.0028
1830 | 0.0029
1840 | 0.0029
1850 | 0.003
1860 | 0.0027
1870 | 0.0018
1880 | 0.0015
1890 | 0.0009
1900 | 0.0006
1910 | 0.0003
1920 | 0.0004
1930 | 0.0003
1940 | 0.0003
1950 | 0.0003
1960 | 0.0003
1970 | 0.0003
1980 | 0.0002
1990 | 0.0002
2000 | 0.0002
2010 | 0.0002

zoolite, n. was revised in June 2017.

zoolite, n. was last modified in July 2023.