zygosis, n.

zygosis
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zygosis_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1921; not fully revised

# zygosisnoun

## Earlier version

- zygosis in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zygosis mean?

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

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1880 | 0.0055
1890 | 0.0055
1900 | 0.006
1910 | 0.0055
1920 | 0.0051
1930 | 0.0057
1940 | 0.0058
1950 | 0.0048
1960 | 0.0042
1970 | 0.0031
1980 | 0.0029
1990 | 0.0029
2000 | 0.0023
2010 | 0.0021

### How is the noun zygosis pronounced?

#### British English

/zʌɪˈɡəʊsᵻs/
zigh-GOH-suhss
/zᵻˈɡəʊsᵻs/
zuh-GOH-suhss

#### U.S. English

/zaɪˈɡoʊsəs/
zigh-GOH-suhss

### Where does the noun zygosis come from?

Earliest known use

1880s

The earliest known use of the noun zygosis is in the 1880s.

OED's earliest evidence for zygosis is from 1880, in the writing of Francis Pascoe, entomologist.

zygosis is a borrowing from Latin.

### Nearby entries

1. zygomycetous, adj. 1928–
2. zygon, n. 1886–
3. zygonema, n. 1911–
4. zygoneurous, adj. 1901–
5. zygophiuran, adj. & n. 1892–
6. zygophore, n. 1904–
7. zygophyllaceous, adj. 1887–
8. zygophyte, n. 1885–
9. zygopleura, n. 1883–
10. zygopterid, n. & adj. 1900–
11. zygosis, n.1880–
12. zygosity, n. 1952–
13. zygosome, n. 1905–
14. zygosperm, n. 1880–
15. zygosphenal, adj. 1854–
16. zygosphene, n. 1854–
17. zygosphere, n. 1880–
18. zygospondyline, adj. 1892–
19. zygospore, n. 1864–
20. zygosporic, adj. 1906–
21. zygostat, n. 1623

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Latin.
modern Latin, < Greek ζύγωσις, < ζυγοῦν to yoke, < ζυγόν yoke.

## Meaning & use

Biology.

1. 1880–
   = conjugation n. 5.
   1. 1880
      F. P. Pascoe, Zoological Classification (ed. 2) 297.
   2. 1881–2
      W. Saville-Kent, Manual of Infusoria vol. II. 874.
   life sciences physiology
   1. zygosis 1880–
      = conjugation, n. 5.
   2. heterozygosis 1905–
      The fusion of two genetically different gametes; the state or condition of being heterozygous.
   3. homozygosis 1905–
      The fusion of two genetically identical gametes; the state or condition of being homozygous.
   4. zygogenesis 1950–
      Reproduction involving the formation of a zygote.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zʌɪˈɡəʊsᵻs/
zigh-GOH-suhss
/zᵻˈɡəʊsᵻs/
zuh-GOH-suhss

### U.S. English

/zaɪˈɡoʊsəs/
zigh-GOH-suhss

####

##### 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

## Frequency

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

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

### Frequency of zygosis, n., 1880–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1880 | 0.0055
1890 | 0.0055
1900 | 0.006
1910 | 0.0055
1920 | 0.0051
1930 | 0.0057
1940 | 0.0058
1950 | 0.0048
1960 | 0.0042
1970 | 0.0031
1980 | 0.0029
1990 | 0.0029
2000 | 0.0023
2010 | 0.0021

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zygosity, n. 1952–
   The genetic relationship of twins, triplets…

zygosis, n. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.

zygosis, n. was last modified in July 2023.