zeknoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zek mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zek. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun zek?
| 1960 | 0.079 |
| 1970 | 0.067 |
| 1980 | 0.06 |
| 1990 | 0.06 |
| 2000 | 0.067 |
| 2010 | 0.043 |
How is the noun zek pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun zek come from?
Earliest known use
1960s
The earliest known use of the noun zek is in the 1960s.
OED's earliest evidence for zek is from 1968, in a translation by T. P. Whitney.
zek is a borrowing from Russian.
Etymons: Russian zek.
Nearby entries
- zeep, v.1886–
- zeeping, adj.1895–
- zef, adj.1990–
- zegadine, n.1651–
- zeilanite, n.1815–
- zein, n.1820–
- Zeiss, n.1876–
- zeitgeber, n.1958–
- zeitgeist, n.1848–
- zeitgeisty, adj.1966–
- zek, n.1968–
- zelant, n.1624–26
- zelatrice, n.1874–
- zelatrix, n.1865–
- Zeldovich, n.1956–
- Zelig, n.1984–
- Zelig-like, adj.1983–
- zelkova, n.1836–
- zelotypia, n.1566–
- zelotyping, adj.a1660
- zelotypist, n.?1632
Etymology
Summary
Notes
Meaning & use
- 1968–Originally and chiefly in Russian-speaking contexts: a prisoner; a convict; (in early use) esp. a person held in a forced labour camp in the U.S.S.R.
- 1968
All the zeks at the Mavrino sharashka belonged, though they were not at the time in hard-labor camps, to the realm of GULAG.
T. P. Whitney, translation of A. Solzhenitsyn, First Circle p. x - 1982
They got him for parasitism and a few other offences. Now he was presumably..east of the Urals and taking the zeks for their bread ration.
T. J. Binyon, Swan Song viii. 58 - 1998
I came here to repay a debt to a close friend, a fellow zek.
M. Booth, Industry of Souls xi. 239 - 2017
Some contributors insist that..bringing a child into the world whose father is a zek is to cast ‘a cloud over its childhood’.
J. Pallot & E. Katz, Waiting at Prison Gate vii. 135
- prisona1225–1616A prisoner. Obsolete.
- prisonerc1384–A person who is kept in prison or in custody; spec. one who is legally committed to prison as the result of a legal process, either as punishment for…
- enpresonéc1425A prisoner.
- bird1580–slang. A prisoner; a habitual offender. Frequently with modifying word. Cf. sense IV.19. Now rare except in jailbird, n.
- warder1584–1629Scottish. A person in ward, a prisoner. Obsolete. rare.
- canary bird1593–slang (originally cant). A prisoner; (also) †a habitual offender, a criminal, a rogue (obsolete). Cf. canary, n.⁵ 2b, jailbird, n. Now rare.
- penitentiala1633–1828A person performing or undergoing penance, a penitent. Also humorously: a prisoner. Obsolete.
- convict1786–spec. A condemned criminal serving a sentence of penal servitude.
- chum1819–One who shares apartments with another or others, one who lodges or resides in the same room or rooms: ‘a chamber-fellow, a term used in the…
- lag1819–A convict who has been transported or sentenced to penal servitude.
- lagger1819–A convict undergoing or having undergone penal servitude.
- new chum1819–65Chiefly Australian. A prisoner newly admitted to a jail or prison ship; a newly arrived convict. Obsolete.
- nut-brown1835–40Australian. A convict. Obsolete.
- collegian1837–slang. An inmate of a prison. Cf. college, n. 8.
- canary1840–slang. gen. A prisoner; (originally) †a habitual offender, a jailbird (obsolete). Cf. canary bird, n. 2a. rare.
- lock-up prisoner1846–A prisoner in a lock-up (lock-up, n. 1).
- Sydney duck1873–A convict.
- forty1879–A ‘crook’, thief, sharper (in quot. 1879, a convict). Australian slang.
- zebra1882–Applied to a person. U.S. colloquial. A prison inmate or convict wearing a uniform made of a (typically black and white) striped fabric; (also) the…
- con1893–Criminals' slang. = convict, n.¹, conviction, n.
- yardbird1956–A convict.
- zek1968–Originally and chiefly in Russian-speaking contexts: a prisoner; a convict; (in early use) esp. a person held in a forced labour camp in the U.S.S.R.
Pronunciation
British English
U.S. English
Plural: zeki
British English
U.S. English
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
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
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
Inflections
Frequency
zek typically occurs about 0.06 times per million words in modern written English.
zek is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency of zek, n., 1960–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1960 | 0.079 |
| 1970 | 0.067 |
| 1980 | 0.06 |
| 1990 | 0.06 |
| 2000 | 0.067 |
| 2010 | 0.043 |