zeitgeist, n.

zeitgeist
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zeitgeist_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zeitgeistnoun

## Earlier version

- Zeitgeist in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zeitgeist mean?

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

### How common is the noun zeitgeist?

About 0.06occurrences per million words in modern written English

1890 | 0.0017
1900 | 0.0028
1910 | 0.0029
1920 | 0.0028
1930 | 0.0052
1940 | 0.0075
1950 | 0.012
1960 | 0.021
1970 | 0.036
1980 | 0.051
1990 | 0.059
2000 | 0.067
2010 | 0.08

### How is the noun zeitgeist pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzʌɪtɡʌɪst/
ZIGHT-gighst

#### U.S. English

/ˈzaɪtˌɡaɪst/
ZIGHT-gighst

### Where does the noun zeitgeist come from?

Earliest known use

1840s

The earliest known use of the noun zeitgeist is in the 1840s.

OED's earliest evidence for zeitgeist is from 1848, in a letter by Matthew Arnold, poet, writer, and inspector of schools.

zeitgeist is a borrowing from German.

Etymons: German Zeitgeist.

### Nearby entries

1. Zeeman, n. 1897–
2. zeep, n. 1878–
3. zeep, v. 1886–
4. zeeping, adj. 1895–
5. zef, adj. 1990–
6. zegadine, n. 1651–
7. zeilanite, n. 1815–
8. zein, n. 1820–
9. Zeiss, n. 1876–
10. zeitgeber, n. 1958–
11. zeitgeist, n.1848–
12. zeitgeisty, adj. 1966–
13. zek, n. 1968–
14. zelant, n. 1624–26
15. zelatrice, n. 1874–
16. zelatrix, n. 1865–
17. Zeldovich, n. 1956–
18. Zelig, n. 1984–
19. Zelig-like, adj. 1983–
20. zelkova, n. 1836–
21. zelotypia, n. 1566–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from German.
Etymon: German Zeitgeist.
< German Zeitgeist (late 18th cent.) < Zeit time (see tide n.) + Geist Geist n.…
< German Zeitgeist (late 18th cent.) < Zeit time (see tide n.) + Geist Geist n.

### Notes

Compare time-spirit n. as an earlier calque on the German expression, and likewise (also in Carlyle) Spirit of Time:

1. 1831

   > Terrestrial Life itself, with its whole doings and showings, [is] held out as a Disturbance (Zerrüttung) produced by the Zeitgeist (Spirit of Time).

   T. Carlyle in Edinburgh Review December 377

Sometimes (especially in early use) written as two words or hyphenated.

## Meaning & use

1. 1848–
   Frequently (and in early use usually) with capital initial. The defining spirit or mood of a particular period, esp. as reflected in the prevailing ideas, beliefs, and attitudes of the time; the social or cultural trends prevalent at a particular time.
   1. 1848

      > I..took up Obermann, and refuged myself with him..against your Zeit Geist.

      M. Arnold, Letter November (1932) 95
   2. 1889

      > My business is to incarnate the Zeitgeist.

      G. B. Shaw, Letter August (1965) vol. I. 222
   3. 1946

      > May we worship neither the flux of chance, nor the wheel of fortune, nor the spiral of the zeit-geist.

      W. H. Auden, Litany & Anthem for S. Matthew's Day
   4. 1972

      > A clear mark of the Zeitgeist of the late 1960's and the 1970's is the increased demand for participation in decision-making by those affected by it.

      Science 2 June 991/3
   5. 2011

      > Fukuyama did capture the zeitgeist of the early post-cold war years, and his thinking both shaped and reflected a wider body of ideas.

      N. MacQueen, Humanitarian Intervention & United Nations ii. 44
   1. time-spirit 1834–
      = zeitgeist, n.
   2. zeitgeist 1848–
      Frequently (and in early use usually) with capital initial. The defining spirit or mood of a particular period, esp. as reflected in the…
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. philosophy c1387–
      Frequently as a count noun. A particular system of ideas or beliefs relating to the general scheme of existence and the universe; a philosophical…
   2. zeitgeist 1848–
      Frequently (and in early use usually) with capital initial. The defining spirit or mood of a particular period, esp. as reflected in the…
   3. thought model 1891–
      A system of related ideas or images.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzʌɪtɡʌɪst/
ZIGHT-gighst

### U.S. English

/ˈzaɪtˌɡaɪst/
ZIGHT-gighst

####

##### 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

Also with capital initial.

## Frequency

zeitgeist typically occurs about 0.06 times per million words in modern written English.

zeitgeist 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 data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zeitgeist, 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 | 0.0017
1900 | 0.0028
1910 | 0.0029
1920 | 0.0028
1930 | 0.0052
1940 | 0.0075
1950 | 0.012
1960 | 0.021
1970 | 0.036
1980 | 0.051
1990 | 0.059
2000 | 0.067
2010 | 0.08

### Frequency of zeitgeist, 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 | 0.68
2018 | 0.65
2019 | 0.66
2020 | 0.67
2021 | 0.69
2022 | 0.71
2023 | 0.74
2024 | 0.76

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zeitgeisty, adj. 1966–
   Representative or characteristic of the…

zeitgeist, n. was revised in June 2018.

zeitgeist, n. was last modified in September 2024.