Zoroastric, adj.

zoroastric
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoroastric_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2023

# Zoroastricadjective

## Earlier version

- Zoroastric, a. in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective Zoroastric mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the adjective Zoroastric. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the adjective Zoroastric?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1850 | 0.0038
1860 | 0.0032
1870 | 0.0032
1880 | 0.0029
1890 | 0.0023
1900 | 0.0017
1910 | 0.0012
1920 | 0.0009
1930 | 0.0009
1940 | 0.0005
1950 | 0.0003
1960 | 0.0003
1970 | 0.0003
1980 | 0.0003
1990 | 0.0003
2000 | 0.0003
2010 | 0.0003

### How is the adjective Zoroastric pronounced?

#### British English

/ˌzɒrəʊˈastrɪk/
zorr-oh-ASS-trick

#### U.S. English

/ˌzɔroʊˈæstrɪk/
zor-oh-ASS-trick

### Where does the adjective Zoroastric come from?

Earliest known use

mid 1700s

The earliest known use of the adjective Zoroastric is in the mid 1700s.

OED's earliest evidence for Zoroastric is from before 1739, in a translation by Charles Jarvis, portrait painter and translator.

From a proper name, combined with an English element.

Etymons: proper name Zoroaster, ‑ic suffix.

### Nearby entries

1. Zoque, n. 1891–
2. Zoque–Mixe, adj. & n. 1893–
3. Zorb, n. 1996–
4. zorbing, n. 1996–
5. zorgite, n. 1852–
6. zori, n.?1823–
7. zoril, n. 1774–
8. Zoroastrian, adj. & n. 1597–
9. Zoroastrianism, n. 1832–
10. Zoroastrianize, v. 1891–
11. Zoroastric, adj.a1739–
12. Zoroastrism, n. 1819–
13. zorrino, n. 1885–
14. zorro, n. 1838–
15. zos-grass, n. 1937–
16. zoster, n. 1601–
17. zostera, n. 1819–
18. zosterops, n. 1867–
19. Zouave, n. 1848–
20. zouk, n. 1986–
21. zounds, v. 1680

## Etymology

### Summary

From a proper name, combined with an English element.
Etymons: proper name Zoroaster, ‑ic suffix.
< the name of Zoroaster (see Zoroastrian adj.) + ‑ic suffix, originally after Spanish Zoroastrico (1615 in the passage translated in quot. a1739).

Compare earlier Zoroastrian adj.

## Meaning & use

1. a1739–
   = Zoroastrian adj.
   1. a1739

      > Monarch supreme and great depositary Of magic art and Zoroastric skill [Spanish la ciencia Zoroastrica].

      C. Jarvis, translation of M. de Cervantes, Don Quixote (1742) vol. II. iii. iii. 187
   2. 1873

      > After the Zoroastric reformation of the Persian religion there was properly no longer a place there for Mithra.

      W. D. Whitney, Oriental & Linguistic Studies i. 44
   3. 2005

      > Baruch has become an angel and a prophet. He plays a role in the Ethiopic, Zoroastric, and medieval Jewish communities.

      Journal Study of Judaism in Persian, Hellenistic, & Roman Period vol. 36 136
   religion
   1. Zoroastrian 1597–
      Of, relating to, or characteristic of Zoroastrianism or its followers; designating a follower or adherent of Zoroastrianism.
   2. Guebrish 1687
      Belonging to the Guebres.
   3. Zoroastric a1739–
      = Zoroastrian, adj.
   4. Persian 1776–
      Of or relating to Zoroastrianism. Cf. Parsee, adj. Now rare.
   5. Zarathustric 1848–
      Zoroastrian. Cf. Zarathustrian, adj. A.1.
   6. Mazdaean 1855–
      Zoroastrian.
   7. Zarathustrian 1859–
      Of, relating to, or characteristic of Zoroastrianism or its followers; designating a follower or adherent of Zoroastrianism; = Zoroastrian, adj.…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˌzɒrəʊˈastrɪk/
zorr-oh-ASS-trick

### U.S. English

/ˌzɔroʊˈæstrɪk/
zor-oh-ASS-trick

###
Variant: Zoroasteric

### British English

/ˌzɒrəʊˈastərɪk/
zorr-oh-ASS-tuh-rick

### U.S. English

/ˌzɔroʊˈæstərɪk/
zor-oh-ASS-tuhr-ik

####

##### 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

## Forms

### Variant forms

1. 1700s–
   Zoroastric
2. 1800s–
   Zoroasteric ( British English /ˌzɒrəʊˈastərɪk/ (zorr-oh-ASS-tuh-rick) , U.S. English /ˌzɔroʊˈæstərɪk/ (zor-oh-ASS-tuhr-ik) ) (now rare)

## Frequency

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

Zoroastric 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 Zoroastric, adj., 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 | 0.0038
1860 | 0.0032
1870 | 0.0032
1880 | 0.0029
1890 | 0.0023
1900 | 0.0017
1910 | 0.0012
1920 | 0.0009
1930 | 0.0009
1940 | 0.0005
1950 | 0.0003
1960 | 0.0003
1970 | 0.0003
1980 | 0.0003
1990 | 0.0003
2000 | 0.0003
2010 | 0.0003

Zoroastric, adj. was revised in March 2023.

Zoroastric, adj. was last modified in July 2023.