Zadokite, n. & adj.

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

# Zadokitenoun & adjective

## Earlier version

- Zadokite, n. and a. in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the word Zadokite mean?

There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the word Zadokite. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, 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 word Zadokite?

About 0.05occurrences per million words in modern written English

1920 | 0.017
1930 | 0.02
1940 | 0.023
1950 | 0.027
1960 | 0.033
1970 | 0.04
1980 | 0.045
1990 | 0.048
2000 | 0.051
2010 | 0.054

### How is the word Zadokite pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzeɪdəkʌɪt/

### Where does the word Zadokite come from?

Earliest known use

1910s

The earliest known use of the word Zadokite is in the 1910s.

OED's earliest evidence for Zadokite is from 1910, in the writing of S. Schechter.

From a proper name, combined with an English element.

Etymons: proper name Zadok, ‑ite suffix1.

### Nearby entries

1. za, n. 1968–
2. zaatar, n. 1917–
3. zabaglione, n. 1899–
4. zabernism, n. 1916–21
5. zabernize, v. 1914
6. zabra, n. 1523–
7. zabuton, n. 1879–
8. zac, n. 1898–
9. 'zackly | 'zactly, adv. 1886–
10. zad, n. 1669–
11. Zadokite, n. & adj.1910–
12. zadruga, n. 1887–
13. zaffre | zaffer, n. 1662–
14. zaftig, adj. 1921–
15. zafu, n. 1965–
16. zag, n., adv., & v. 1793–
17. zagaie | zagaye, n. 1590–1698
18. Zaghlulist, n. & adj. 1921–
19. zaguan, n. 1851–
20. Zahal, n. 1959–
21. zaibatsu, n. 1937–

## Etymology

### Summary

From a proper name, combined with an English element.
Etymons: proper name Zadok, ‑ite suffix1.
< the name of Zadok, a high priest of Israel in the time of King David + ‑ite suffix1.

## Meaning & use

1. noun
   1. 1910–
      A member of a Jewish sect which seceded from orthodox Judaism in the second century b.c., and traced its authority back to Zadok.
      1. 1910

         > It is the Zadokites from which the Sect derived its spiritual pedigree.

         S. Schechter, Fragments of Zadokite Work p. xxi
      2. 1920

         > The Sadducees were thus not a religious party at all, but simply a body of people bound together by a common interest to maintain the existing régime. The name is explained as meaning ‘Zadokites’, and was given to them by their opponents, the Pharisees, who borrowed it from an earlier age..when the descendants of Zadok, who then filled the high-priestly office, identified themselves with Hellenism in its most dangerous forms.

         Encyclopaedia of Religion & Ethics vol. XI. 43/2
      3. 1960

         > It may also be that..some deported Zadokites returned to Jerusalem.

         translation of Noth's Hist. Israel iii. ii. 316
      4. 1974

         > The Zadokites may have constituted the survival of an ancient Jebusite (Canaanite) royal priesthood.

         Encyclopædia Britannica Macropædia vol. XIV. 190/1
      Judaism
      1. Zadokite 1910–
         A member of a Jewish sect which seceded from orthodox Judaism in the second century b.c., and traced its authority back to Zadok.
      View in Historical Thesaurus
2. adjective
   1. 1910–
      Of, pertaining to, or designating the members of this sect; spec. applied to fragments of sectarian texts discovered in Cairo in 1896–7 and later traced back to the Dead Sea Scrolls.
      1. 1910

         > Fragments of a Zadokite work.

         S. Schechter (title)
      2. 1912

         > There is no question as to the genuineness of the orders of the Zadokite Priests and Levites.

         R. H. Charles, Fragm. of Zadokite Wk. p. vii
      3. 1912

         > The Zadokite Party represents an attempt at reform beginning within the ranks of the priesthood and extending outwards so as to embrace a strong lay element.

         R. H. Charles, Fragm. of Zadokite Wk. p. x
      4. 1921

         > In the so called Zadokite document of Jewish piety, just before the days of Jesus, the idea of a new covenant, a covenant of repentance, began to be linked to the expectation of a messiah.

         J. Moffatt, Approach to New Testament i. 60
      5. 1954

         > Represented..is a fragment of the ‘Zadokite work’. This document, long an enigma to scholars, had been recognized as related to the Qumran sectarian works as soon as the finds of 1947 became known.

         Biblical Archaeologist vol. 17 8
      6. 1974

         > Another sectarian book of ordinances is the Damascus Document (the Zadokite Fragments). The work was already known from two medieval copies before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, but fragments of it also were found in Qumrān.

         Encyclopædia Britannica Macropædia vol. II. 938/2
      Judaism
      1. Zadokite 1910–
         Of, pertaining to, or designating the members of this sect; spec. applied to fragments of sectarian texts discovered in Cairo in 1896–7 and later…
      2. Qumran 1953–
         Of or designating the Dead Sea Scrolls (see Dead Sea, n. 2), discovered in the caves at Qumran.
      View in Historical Thesaurus
      1. Zadokite 1910–
         Of, pertaining to, or designating the members of this sect; spec. applied to fragments of sectarian texts discovered in Cairo in 1896–7 and later…
      View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzeɪdəkʌɪt/

####

##### 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.

## Frequency

Zadokite typically occurs about 0.05 times per million words in modern written English.

Zadokite 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 data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of Zadokite, n. & adj., 1920–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1920 | 0.017
1930 | 0.02
1940 | 0.023
1950 | 0.027
1960 | 0.033
1970 | 0.04
1980 | 0.045
1990 | 0.048
2000 | 0.051
2010 | 0.054

Zadokite, n. & adj. was first published in 1986; not fully revised.

Zadokite, n. & adj. was last modified in December 2024.