<Hellenistic Greekζωογόνος producing animals, generative, in Byzantine Greek also life-producing (Proclus (see quot. 1788); <ancient Greekζωή life (see zoismn.) + ‑γονος producing: see protogonousadj.…
<Hellenistic Greekζωογόνος producing animals, generative, in Byzantine Greek also life-producing (Proclus (see quot. 1788); <ancient Greekζωή life (see zoismn.) + ‑γονος producing: see protogonousadj.) + ‑icsuffix.Compare Hellenistic Greekζωογονικός capable of generation.Compare earlier zoogonyn.
Meaning & use
1787–
Of or relating to the generation or development of animals or living things generally; life-producing, generative. Cf. zoogonyn.
1787
Rhea, according to the Orphic and Platonic theology, is one of the zoogonic or vivific principles of the universe.
T. Taylor in translation of Mystical Initiations xiii. 137 (note)
1788
The zoogonic, or vivific goddess [Greek ὡς τῆς ζωογόνου θεότητος].
T. Taylor, translation of Proclus, Philosophical & Mathematical Commentariesvol. I. 118
1842
These zoogonic elements can become combined and associated one with another so as to produce a variation in animality.
Medical Times 17 December 182/3
1845
Hephaestus is generative fire; the Zoogonic heat of the sun.
W. Watkiss Lloyd, Xanthian Marbles 41
1902
The number 216 maintains its character as a matrimonial and generative force: for it is the cube of the area of the zoogonic triangle and the product of the cubes of the first male and female numbers.
J. Adam, Republic Platovol. II. 293
1987
The theologians have supposed the source of Nature to be the zoogonic goddess.
G. R. Morrow & J. M. Dillon in translation of Proclus, Comm. Plato's Parmenides (1992) 183 (Comm.)
2005
The geological conditions of the Nile Delta may have inspired Anaximander's ‘evolutionary’ zoogonic and anthropogonic ideas.
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.
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.
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
zoogonic typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zoogonic 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 data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.
Frequency of zoogonic, adj., 1790–2010
* 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.