zeppolenoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zeppole mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zeppole. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun zeppole?
| 1850 | 0.0002 |
| 1860 | 0.0002 |
| 1870 | 0.0001 |
| 1880 | 0.0001 |
| 1890 | 0.00002 |
| 1900 | 0.00002 |
| 1910 | 0.00002 |
| 1920 | 0.0001 |
| 1930 | 0.0002 |
| 1940 | 0.0003 |
| 1950 | 0.0006 |
| 1960 | 0.0011 |
| 1970 | 0.0018 |
| 1980 | 0.0025 |
| 1990 | 0.0028 |
| 2000 | 0.0032 |
| 2010 | 0.0038 |
How is the noun zeppole pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun zeppole come from?
Earliest known use
1830s
The earliest known use of the noun zeppole is in the 1830s.
OED's earliest evidence for zeppole is from 1835, in Penny Magazine.
zeppole is a borrowing from Italian.
Etymons: Italian zeppoli, zeppolo; Italian zeppole, zeppola.
Nearby entries
- zephyry, adj.1791–
- Zepp, n.1914–
- Zepp, v.1914–
- Zeppelin, n.1896–
- zeppelin, v.1910–
- Zeppelined, adj.1915–
- Zeppelining, n.1915–
- Zeppelinist, n.1912–
- Zeppelinistic, adj.1930–
- Zeppelinite, n.1909–
- zeppole, n.1835–
- zepto-, comb. form
- zeranol, n.1971–
- zerda, n.1780–1860
- zerk, n.1926–
- zero, n. & adj.1604–
- zero, v.1813–
- zeroable, adj.1956–
- zero balance, adj.1974–
- zero-base, adj.1962–
- zero-based, adj.1963–
Etymology
Summary
Notes
Meaning & use
- 1835–Esp. in Italian and Italian American cookery: pastries consisting of fried balls or rings of dough, typically topped with powdered sugar and often containing a filling of custard, cream, etc.
- 1835
I have known a fellow to sell his only jacket to buy zeppoli and spezrato [sic] at Easter.
Penny Magazine 25 April 156/1 - 1892
We also breakfasted religiously on maccaroni and zeppole.
Nation 14 April 281/3 - 1958
Neapolitans serve zeppole, or cream fritters.
D. G. Spicer, Festivals Western Europe v. 91 - 1979
I didn't want people dropping zeppoli all over our books.
New Yorker 8 October 32/1 - 2009
There's little at first that can divert our attention from the basket of zeppoles, warm pillows of fried, salted dough.
Cincinnati February 143/2 - 2014
Get a regular coffee and zeppola for $4.
Advertiser (Australia) (Nexis) 16 August 20
- dough cakea1631–a. Any of various cakes made of dough; esp. a yeast-raised cake or bun; †b. English regional (Devon) a fool, an idiot (obsolete).
- doughnut1782–Originally U.S. and English regional (southern). A small, spongy, fried cake of sweetened dough, usually in the shape of a ring or ball, and…
- olykoek1795–A small ball-shaped cake made of sweetened dough and traditionally fried in lard (similar to a doughnut).
- nutcake1801–A doughnut or other fried cake. Also more generally: a cake (also a pastry or dessert) containing (usually chopped or ground) nuts.
- poffertje1804–In Dutch and South African cookery: a small light pancake or fritter, typically fried and dusted with sugar.
- zeppole1835–Esp. in Italian and Italian American cookery: pastries consisting of fried balls or rings of dough, typically topped with powdered sugar and often…
- krapfen1845–In Germany and other German-speaking areas: a doughnut (see also quot. 1845).
- simball1865–A doughnut.
- sinker1870–slang (originally U.S.). A heavy dumpling.
- Dutch doughnut1871–A type of crisp, deep-fried, ball-shaped doughnut with a soft centre, often filled with raisins and traditionally eaten in Belgium and the…
- doughnut hole1886–a. The hole in the centre of a ring doughnut; also in extended use; b. U.S. a bite-sized, spherical doughnut (so called because originally made of…
- French cruller1886–A type of doughnut made from a light choux batter, typically in the shape of a ring with decorative fluting.
- vetkoek1900–With plural agreement: small unsweetened cakes of deep-fried dough, typically served with a sweet or savoury filling. Also as a count noun: a cake of…
- bear sign1903–slang. Among cowboys: doughnuts.
- koeksister1904–A kind of sugared doughnut popular in South Africa.
- sinker1906–U.S. colloquial. A doughy cake; esp. a doughnut.
- submarine1916–U.S. colloquial. A doughnut. rare.
- cake doughnut1920–A type of doughnut made from a cake-like batter rather than from dough leavened with yeast.
- mandazi1937–In East African cookery: a small cake consisting of sweetened dough fried in oil, usually triangular in shape and typically eaten as a snack or as an…
Pronunciation
British English
U.S. English
Plural: zeppole
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
Forms
Inflections
Variant forms
α.
- 1800s–zeppoli (plural)
- 1900s–zeppoli (singular), zeppolie (plural), zeppolo (singular)
β.
- 1800s–zeppole (plural)
- 1900s–zeppola (singular), zeppole (singular)
Frequency
zeppole typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zeppole is in frequency band 2, which contains words occurring between 0.001 and 0.01 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency of zeppole, n., 1850–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1850 | 0.0002 |
| 1860 | 0.0002 |
| 1870 | 0.0001 |
| 1880 | 0.0001 |
| 1890 | 0.00002 |
| 1900 | 0.00002 |
| 1910 | 0.00002 |
| 1920 | 0.0001 |
| 1930 | 0.0002 |
| 1940 | 0.0003 |
| 1950 | 0.0006 |
| 1960 | 0.0011 |
| 1970 | 0.0018 |
| 1980 | 0.0025 |
| 1990 | 0.0028 |
| 2000 | 0.0032 |
| 2010 | 0.0038 |
Frequency of zeppole, 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 | 0.0062 |
| 2018 | 0.0046 |
| 2019 | 0.0056 |
| 2020 | 0.0073 |
| 2021 | 0.0059 |
| 2022 | 0.006 |
| 2023 | 0.0075 |
| 2024 | 0.0069 |