zucca, n.

zucca
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zucca_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1986; not fully revised

# zuccanoun

## Earlier version

- zucca in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zucca mean?

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

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1820 | 0.0046
1830 | 0.0043
1840 | 0.0039
1850 | 0.004
1860 | 0.003
1870 | 0.0033
1880 | 0.003
1890 | 0.0036
1900 | 0.0037
1910 | 0.0039
1920 | 0.0039
1930 | 0.004
1940 | 0.0039
1950 | 0.004
1960 | 0.0042
1970 | 0.005
1980 | 0.0056
1990 | 0.0059
2000 | 0.0065
2010 | 0.0073

### How is the noun zucca pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzuːkə/

### Where does the noun zucca come from?

Earliest known use

1810s

The earliest known use of the noun zucca is in the 1810s.

OED's earliest evidence for zucca is from 1818, in a letter by Percy Bysshe Shelley, poet.

zucca is a borrowing from Italian.

### Nearby entries

1. zounds, v. 1680
2. zounds, int. a1593–
3. Zou-Zou, n. 1860–
4. zowie, int. 1902–
5. zoysia, n. 1965–
6. ZPG, n. 1970–
7. Zr, n. 1814–
8. zubr, n. 1763–
9. zubrowka, n. 1916–
10. zucarine, adj. a1425
11. zucca, n.1818–
12. zucchetto, n. 1853–
13. zucchini, n. 1916–
14. zuche, n. 1358–1676
15. Zuckerkandl, n. 1910–
16. zufolo, n. 1724–
17. zug, n. 1899–
18. zugtrompete, n. 1978–
19. Zugunruhe, n. 1950–
20. Zugzwang, n. 1904–
21. zule | zulis, n. 1780–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Italian.
Italian: see zucchini n.

## Meaning & use

rare.

1. 1818–
   A gourd, esp. a pumpkin.
   Shelley's (plural) form is erroneous.
   1. 1818

      > Vast heaps of many coloured zucki or pumkins..piled as winter food for the hogs.

      P. B. Shelley, Letter 6 November (1964) vol. II. 45
   2. 1946

      > Perhaps..it was Mary who placed a zucca in a vase on the window~sill.

      E. Blunden, Shelley xxii. 272
   plants
   1. turquin 1600
      A dark-green pumpkin.
   2. squanter-squash 1634–1705
      A squash.
   3. pumpkin 1647–
      Originally: any of various kinds of edible gourd. Now: the fruit of any of several plants of the genus Cucurbita (family Cucurbitaceae), which…
   4. cushaw 1698–
      Any of several varieties of winter crookneck squash, esp. of the species Cucurbita argyrosperma, typically having green and white striped skin. Also…
   5. simlin 1775–
      U.S. regional. Any of several squashes; now spec. the pattypan squash. Cf. simnel, n. 3.
   6. summer squash 1801–
      Any variety of squash (genus Cucurbita, esp. Cucurbita pepo) having fruits which are harvested while immature and thin-skinned; (also) the fruit…
   7. zucca 1818–
      A gourd, esp. a pumpkin.
   8. summer crookneck 1832–
      Any variety of summer squash having a fruit with a curved neck and yellow or orange skin (see crook-neck, n.); (also) the fruit itself.
   9. custard marrow 1853–
      a. A variety of summer squash (Cucurbita pepo) having a flattened fruit with a scalloped rim, thin yellow, green, or white skin, and white flesh…
   10. pattypan 1855–
       Chiefly North American. In full pattypan squash. A flattened variety of the summer squash, Cucurbita pepo, with a scalloped rim and creamy white…
   11. trombone 1946–
       A green or yellow pear-shaped pumpkin belonging to the Australian variety of this name.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. pepon Old English–
      The fruit of a kind of gourd, originally probably a kind of melon, Cucumis melo, in later use perhaps the pumpkin, a variety of Cucurbita pepo…
   2. pompion 1526–
      = pumpkin, n. 1.
   3. pompillion 1598
      = pompion, n. A.1a.
   4. turquin 1600
      A dark-green pumpkin.
   5. pumpkin 1647–
      Originally: any of various kinds of edible gourd. Now: the fruit of any of several plants of the genus Cucurbita (family Cucurbitaceae), which…
   6. calabash 1658–
      A name given to various gourds or pumpkins, the shell of which is used for holding liquids, etc.
   7. potiron 1658–
      A kind of pumpkin, esp. one with a flattened shape and orange skin.
   8. winter squash 1771–
      Any variety of squash (genus Cucurbita, esp. C. maxima) having fruits which are harvested when mature and thick-skinned, and may be stored for use…
   9. pumpkin gourd 1799–
      †a. = pumpkin, n. 1b (obsolete); b. = pumpkin, n. 1a.
   10. zucca 1818–
       A gourd, esp. a pumpkin.
   11. kabocha 1884–
       More fully kabocha squash. A variety of winter squash, Cucurbita maxima, having dark green or orange skin with pale stripes or blotches and sweet…
   12. sugared pumpkin 1884–
       = sugar-pumpkin, n.
   13. sugar-pumpkin 1905–
       (See quot.).
   14. Ceylon pumpkin 1913–
       A large pumpkin found originally in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon).
   15. trombone 1946–
       A green or yellow pear-shaped pumpkin belonging to the Australian variety of this name.
   16. Queensland blue 1956–
       An Australian cultivar of the winter squash, Cucurbita maxima, whose skin is bluish-grey to bright green.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzuːkə/

####

##### 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.

## Forms

### Variant forms

Plural zucche.

## Frequency

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

zucca 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 zucca, n., 1820–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1820 | 0.0046
1830 | 0.0043
1840 | 0.0039
1850 | 0.004
1860 | 0.003
1870 | 0.0033
1880 | 0.003
1890 | 0.0036
1900 | 0.0037
1910 | 0.0039
1920 | 0.0039
1930 | 0.004
1940 | 0.0039
1950 | 0.004
1960 | 0.0042
1970 | 0.005
1980 | 0.0056
1990 | 0.0059
2000 | 0.0065
2010 | 0.0073

zucca, n. was first published in 1986; not fully revised.

zucca, n. was last modified in December 2024.