zit-facedadjective
Factsheet
What does the adjective zit-faced mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the adjective zit-faced. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
zit-faced is considered derogatory.
How common is the adjective zit-faced?
| 1970 | 0.0006 |
| 1980 | 0.0008 |
| 1990 | 0.0008 |
| 2000 | 0.0008 |
| 2010 | 0.001 |
Where does the adjective zit-faced come from?
Earliest known use
1970s
The earliest known use of the adjective zit-faced is in the 1970s.
OED's earliest evidence for zit-faced is from 1971, in Peak.
Nearby entries
- zircon-like, adj.1857–
- zircono-, comb. form
- zirconolite, n.1957–
- zircon-syenite, n.1813–
- zirconyl, n.1887–
- zirkelite, n.1895–
- zit, n.1912–
- zit cream, n.1968–
- zitella, n.a1660–
- zit-face, n.1974–
- zit-faced, adj.1971–
- zither, n.1831–
- zither, v.1889–
- zither banjo, n.1888–
- zithering, adj.1889–
- zitherist, n.1866–
- zither-like, adj.1881–
- ziti, n.1845–
- zitty, adj.1971–
- Ziv, n.a1382–
- zizania, n.1526–
Meaning & use
- 1971–(Of a person) having pimples or facial acne (frequently with connotations of youth or callowness).
- 1971
Down on: People being zit faced.
Peak (Medfield (Massachusetts) High School Yearbook) 38 - 1978
How old is the little zit-faced, coke-snorting, hash-smoking son of a bitch?
J. Wambaugh, Black Marble vi. 77 - 2016
The rumor circulated by horny zit-faced boys suddenly deprived of their fantasy object was that she'd gotten knocked up.
J. Zafra, Stories so Far 60
- ploukyc1440–Covered with pimples, spotty.
- blobbed1486–Affected with pimples or swellings.
- pimpled1506–Having or covered with pimples, pimply; characterized by pimples.
- ploukedc1540–= plouky, adj.
- precious1581Probably: carbuncled, pimpled. See also precious-nosed, adj. Obsolete. rare.
- whealy1611Pimply.
- spotty1620–Having, or characterized by, blemishes, pustules, or pimples on the skin; (in later use) esp. having pimples or acne (frequently with connotations…
- pimpling1628–That is erupting in pimples, pimply; that causes pimples or goose pimples.
- plouky-faced?1645–
- ampery1736–Decaying, rotten; weak; unhealthy or unhealthy-looking; infected; (also) pimply.
- pimply1747–Covered with pimples; resembling or suggestive of pimples.
- poxya1758–Infected with pox; spotty. Now in weakened colloquial use (chiefly British): of poor quality, useless, worthless (frequently as a general term of…
- papulous1800–Medicine. = papular, adj.
- papular1813–Consisting of papules; of the nature of or bearing papules.
- papulated1822–Bearing or consisting of papules; papular.
- whelky1822–Pimply.
- pimplous1906–Characterized by pimples; pimply.
- zit-faced1971–derogatory. slang (originally U.S.). (Of a person) having pimples or facial acne (frequently with connotations of youth or callowness).
- zitty1971–Having or characterized by pimples or facial acne (frequently with connotations of youth or callowness).
Frequency
zit-faced typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zit-faced 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 of zit-faced, adj., 1970–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1970 | 0.0006 |
| 1980 | 0.0008 |
| 1990 | 0.0008 |
| 2000 | 0.0008 |
| 2010 | 0.001 |