zapping, n.

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

# zappingnoun

## Earlier version

- zapping, vbl. n. in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zapping mean?

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

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1970 | 0.0055
1980 | 0.0059
1990 | 0.0059
2000 | 0.0059
2010 | 0.007

### How is the noun zapping pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzapɪŋ/
ZAP-ing

### Where does the noun zapping come from?

Earliest known use

1970s

The earliest known use of the noun zapping is in the 1970s.

OED's earliest evidence for zapping is from 1972, in Daily Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia).

zapping is formed within English, by derivation.

Etymons: zap v., ‑ing suffix1.

### Nearby entries

1. zapateado, n. 1845–
2. Zapatism, n. 1911–
3. Zapatismo, n. 1913–
4. Zapatist, n. & adj. 1911–
5. Zapatista, n. & adj. 1911–
6. zapote, n. 1842–
7. Zapotec, n. & adj. 1797–
8. zappe, v. c1600
9. zapped, adj. 1962–
10. zapper, n. 1969–
11. zapping, n.1972–
12. zappy, adj. 1969–
13. zaptieh, n. 1869–
14. ZAPU, n. 1961–
15. Zar, n. 1868–
16. Zarathustrian, adj. & n. 1859–
17. Zarathustrianism, n. 1864–
18. Zarathustric, adj. 1848–
19. Zarathustrism, n. 1871–
20. zaratite, n. 1858–
21. zarcole, n. 1585–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by derivation.
< zap v. + ‑ing suffix1.

## Meaning & use

slang.

1. 1972–
   The action of zap v.; spec. the practice of skipping advertisements when watching television programmes.
   1. 1972

      > I wouldn't take the zapping he has taken, to use the contemporary word, for a million dollars.

      Daily Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia) 8 January 17/7
   2. 1983

      > The practice is known in the US as ‘zapping’. Apparently people who have remote control devices are substantially more likely..to switch over to another channel when ads come on.

      Times 27 October 8/3
   3. 1983

      > You could add suitable sound-effects to an applications program—zapping noises as a word processor deletes characters, maybe?

      Australian Personal Computer November 32/2
   4. 1984

      > For the ITV companies there is the additional problem of ‘zapping’ to contend with—the habitual use of the fast-forward button to bypass the commercial breaks in recorded material.

      Listener 9 February 14/2
   computing television colloquial and slang
   1. zapping 1972–
      The action of zap, v.; spec. the practice of skipping advertisements when watching television programmes.
   2. zap 1983–
      Computing. A change in a program.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. amazing 1530–
      The action of causing amazement.
   2. mazing 1583–1600
      The action of exciting amazement or astonishment; an instance of this. Also: the state of being astonished. Obsolete.
   3. overwhelm 1596–
      The action of overwhelming; the fact or state of being overwhelmed; an instance of this.
   4. stun 1727–
      The act of stunning or dazing; a stunning effect; the condition of being stunned.
   5. zapping 1972–
      The action of zap, v.; spec. the practice of skipping advertisements when watching television programmes.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. zapping 1972–
      The action of zap, v.; spec. the practice of skipping advertisements when watching television programmes.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzapɪŋ/
ZAP-ing

####

##### 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.

####

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

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

zapping 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 zapping, n., 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 | 0.0055
1980 | 0.0059
1990 | 0.0059
2000 | 0.0059
2010 | 0.007

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

zapping, n. was last modified in December 2024.