Zaidi, n.

zaidi
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zaidi_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1993; not fully revised

# Zaidinoun (& adjective)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun Zaidi mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun Zaidi. 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 Zaidi?

About 0.1occurrences per million words in modern written English

1770 | 0.0023
1780 | 0.015
1790 | 0.013
1800 | 0.013
1810 | 0.013
1820 | 0.012
1830 | 0.0018
1840 | 0.0014
1850 | 0.0085
1860 | 0.011
1870 | 0.014
1880 | 0.014
1890 | 0.014
1900 | 0.0072
1910 | 0.0092
1920 | 0.011
1930 | 0.019
1940 | 0.031
1950 | 0.048
1960 | 0.066
1970 | 0.085
1980 | 0.1
1990 | 0.11
2000 | 0.12
2010 | 0.12

### How is the noun Zaidi pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzʌɪdi/

### Where does the noun Zaidi come from?

Earliest known use

early 1700s

The earliest known use of the noun Zaidi is in the early 1700s.

OED's earliest evidence for Zaidi is from 1709, in the writing of Aaron Hill, writer and entrepreneur.

Zaidi is a borrowing from Arabic.

Etymons: Arabic az-Zaydiyya.

### Nearby entries

1. zadruga, n. 1887–
2. zaffre | zaffer, n. 1662–
3. zaftig, adj. 1921–
4. zafu, n. 1965–
5. zag, n., adv., & v. 1793–
6. zagaie | zagaye, n. 1590–1698
7. Zaghlulist, n. & adj. 1921–
8. zaguan, n. 1851–
9. Zahal, n. 1959–
10. zaibatsu, n. 1937–
11. Zaidi, n.1709–
12. zaikai, n. 1968–
13. zaim, n. 1807–
14. zaire, n. 1967–
15. Zairean, n. & adj. 1972–
16. Zairese, adj. & n. 1974–
17. Zairois, n. & adj. 1973–
18. zaitech, n. 1986–
19. zakat, n. 1668–
20. Zakka Khel, n. 1860–
21. zakuska, n. 1885–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Arabic.
Etymon: Arabic az-Zaydiyya.
< Arabic (collective plural) az-Zaydiyya, < the name Zayd (see definition) + ‑ī singular adjective ending.

## Meaning & use

Islam.

1. 1709–
   (A member of) one of the three principal Shiite sects, mainly established in Yemen, and owing allegiance to Zayd ibn ʿAlī (c700–740). Also attributive or as adj.
   1. 1709

      > Another Sect, call'd, Zeidee, believe that long before the World shall end, a Persian Prophet shall be sent by God to dis-annul the Laws of Mahomet, and teach a new and surer way to Joys hereafter.

      A. Hill, Full Account Ottoman Empire viii. 60
   2. 1717

      > The Zeidi, Kadari, Jabari, etc. put me in mind of the Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist, etc.

      Lady M. W. Montagu, Letter 1 April (1965) vol. I. 317
   3. 1859

      > The throne of Yemen was hereditary in the family of the Imáms of Sanäa; they were of the Zeidee sect.

      R. L. Playfair, Hist. Arabia Felix iv. 29
   4. 1885

      > There have been two great schisms in the succession of the Imāms, the first upon the death of ʿAlī Zainu'l-ʿAbidīn, when part of the sect adhered to his son Zaid, the founder of the Zaidīyah sect.

      T. P. Hughes, Dictionary of Islam 574/1
   5. 1911

      > The Zaidis are still to be found in Yemen, and dynasties belonging to their sect have at various times ruled in the country.

      D. S. Margoliouth, Mohammedanism v. 167
   6. 1930

      > Madani..genuflected as frequently as a Zaidi.

      A. Rihani, Arabian Peak & Desert xviii. 190
   7. 1930

      > These ever-praying Zioud!

      A. Rihani, Arabian Peak & Desert xviii. 192
   8. 1951

      > Zaidī imams ruled in Tabaristan, south of the Caspian Sea, from 864 to 928.

      A. S. Tritton, Islam vi. 76
   9. 1979

      > Shiism was represented in the early kalām discussions by its two major branches, the Imāmiyya and the Zaydiyya.

      W. Madelung, Relig. Schools & Sects in Medieval Islam (1985) viii. 121
   Islam
   1. Zaidi 1709–
      (A member of) one of the three principal Shiite sects, mainly established in Yemen, and owing allegiance to Zayd ibn ʿAlī (700–740). Also attributive…
   2. Ismailism 1835–
      The beliefs, doctrines, and practices of Ismaili Muslims.
   3. Ismailitism 1835–
      The beliefs, doctrines, and practices of Ismaili Muslims; = Ismailism, n.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. Zaidi 1709–
      (A member of) one of the three principal Shiite sects, mainly established in Yemen, and owing allegiance to Zayd ibn ʿAlī (700–740). Also attributive…
   2. Ismailian 1759–
      A member of a branch of Shia Islam which holds that, following the death of the sixth Shiite Imam in the second century of the Hijra, the Imamship… In early use, Ismailian is sometimes treated as synonymous with assassin, a derogatory term for a member of the Nizari sect of Ismailism which was founded in the late 11th cent.; cf. assassin, n. 1.
   3. Metawileh 1783–
      Usually in plural. A member of the Twelver Shiite Muslim community in Lebanon or a similar community that emigrated to Damascus in Syria. Cf. Twelver…
   4. Ansarian 1787–
      A member of a minority Shiite sect practising a form of Islam with gnostic and animist elements; = Nusayri, n. Cf. Ansayri, n.
   5. Nusayri 1792–
      A member of a minority Shiite sect practising a form of Islam with gnostic and animist elements. Cf. Alawi, n., Alawite, n., Ansarian, n., Ansayri, n.
   6. Ismailite 1807–
      A member of a branch of Shia Islam which holds that, following the death of the sixth Shiite Imam in the second century of the Hijra, the Imamship… In early use sometimes treated as synonymous with assassin, a derogatory term for a member of the Nizari sect of Ismailism which was founded in the late 11th cent.; cf. assassin, n. 1.
   7. Ismaili 1820–
      A member of a branch of Shia Islam which holds that, following the death of the sixth Shiite Imam in the second century of the Hijra, the Imamship… In early use, Ismaili is sometimes treated as synonymous with assassin, a derogatory term for a member of the Nizari sect of Ismailism which was founded in the late 11th cent.; cf. assassin, n. 1.
   8. Ansayri 1824–
      A member of a minority Shiite sect practising a form of Islam with gnostic and animist elements; = Nusayri, n.
   9. sevener 1835–
      Islam. With capital initial. A member of a branch of Shia Islam which holds that, following the death of the sixth imam Jafar al-Sadiq in 765, the…
   10. Twelver 1835–
       A member of the largest branch of Shia Islam, whose adherents believe in twelve divinely ordained leaders, or imams (imam, n. 2), regarding them…
   11. Alawi 1874–
       A member of a branch of the Nusayri sect based mainly in northern Syria. Cf. Alawite, n.
   12. Alawite 1922–
       = Alawi, n.
   13. Hezbollahi 1981–
       A member or adherent of Hezbollah.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzʌɪdi/

####

##### 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.

## Forms

### Variant forms

Also Zaydi, formerly Zeidee, Zeidi. Plural Zaidi(s), Zaidiyah, Zioud, etc.

## Frequency

Zaidi typically occurs about 0.1 times per million words in modern written English.

Zaidi is in frequency band 4, which contains words occurring between 0.1 and 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 Zaidi, n., 1770–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1770 | 0.0023
1780 | 0.015
1790 | 0.013
1800 | 0.013
1810 | 0.013
1820 | 0.012
1830 | 0.0018
1840 | 0.0014
1850 | 0.0085
1860 | 0.011
1870 | 0.014
1880 | 0.014
1890 | 0.014
1900 | 0.0072
1910 | 0.0092
1920 | 0.011
1930 | 0.019
1940 | 0.031
1950 | 0.048
1960 | 0.066
1970 | 0.085
1980 | 0.1
1990 | 0.11
2000 | 0.12
2010 | 0.12

### Frequency of Zaidi, 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 | 0.0019
2018 | 0.0023
2019 | 0.0019
2020 | 0.0032
2021 | 0.0027
2022 | 0.0063
2023 | 0.007
2024 | 0.0093

Zaidi, n. was first published in 1993; not fully revised.

Zaidi, n. was last modified in December 2024.