zoophily, n.

zoophily
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoophily_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2017

# zoophilynoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zoophily mean?

There are three meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun zoophily. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

zoophily has developed meanings and uses in subjects including

animals (1830s) ecology (1900s) plants (1900s) life sciences (1920s)

### How common is the noun zoophily?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1890 | 0.0012
1900 | 0.0016
1910 | 0.0019
1920 | 0.0031
1930 | 0.0032
1940 | 0.0037
1950 | 0.0041
1960 | 0.0041
1970 | 0.0038
1980 | 0.0035
1990 | 0.0024
2000 | 0.0025
2010 | 0.002

### How is the noun zoophily pronounced?

#### British English

/zuːˈɒfᵻli/
zoo-OFF-uh-lee
/zəʊˈɒfᵻli/
zoh-OFF-uh-lee

#### U.S. English

/zuˈɑfəli/
zoo-AH-fuh-lee
/zoʊˈɑfəli/
zoh-AH-fuh-lee

### Where does the noun zoophily come from?

Earliest known use

1830s

The earliest known use of the noun zoophily is in the 1830s.

OED's earliest evidence for zoophily is from 1830, in the writing of W. H. Drummond.

zoophily is formed within English, by compounding.

Etymons: zoo- comb. form, ‑phily comb. form.

### Nearby entries

1. zoophagic, adj. 1903–
2. zoophagous, adj. 1788–
3. zoophagy, n. 1849–
4. zoophile, n. 1885–
5. zoophilia, n. 1894–
6. zoophilic, adj. 1884–
7. zoophilism, n. 1867–
8. zoophilist, n. 1829–
9. zoophilite, n. 1879–
10. zoophilous, adj. 1881–
11. zoophily, n.1830–
12. zoophobia, n. 1888–
13. zoophysical, adj. 1820–
14. zoophysics, n. 1887–
15. zoophysiology, n. 1803–
16. zoophytal, adj. 1756–
17. zoophyte, n. 1606–
18. zoophytic, adj. 1808–
19. zoophytical, adj. 1779–
20. zoophytish, adj. 1854–80
21. zoophytist, n. 1814–62

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by compounding.
Etymons: zoo- comb. form, ‑phily comb. form.
< zoo- comb. form + ‑phily comb. form.

Compare slightly earlier zoophilist n.…
< zoo- comb. form + ‑phily comb. form.

Compare slightly earlier zoophilist n.

### Notes

With sense 3 compare earlier zoophilic adj. 3 and zoophilous adj. 2; compare also German Zoophilie (1922 or earlier in this sense).

## Meaning & use

1. 1.
   1830–
   Emotional attachment to, or love of, animals; opposition to cruelty to animals. Also occasionally: sexual attraction to, or activity with, animals. Now chiefly historical and somewhat rare.
   1. 1830

      > It is gratifying to meet with the following traits of zoophily in the character of one of our great national saints.

      W. H. Drummond, Humanity to Animals 47
   2. 1889

      > Old cats and dogs..are kept alive through a somewhat misguided philanthropy or rather zoophily.

      British Medical Journal 3 August 256/1
   3. 1903

      > The extremer advocates of Zoophily.

      Month August 214
   4. 1976

      > In 1930 a law removed adultery, homosexuality, and zoophily from the [Danish] Penal Code.

      Journal of Communication vol. 26 40
   5. 2011

      > Zoophily can shade into misanthropy.

      S. Pinker, Better Angels of our Nature vii. 461
   animals historical
   1. zoophily 1830–
      Emotional attachment to, or love of, animals; opposition to cruelty to animals. Also occasionally: sexual attraction to, or activity with, animals…
   2. zoophilism 1867–
      In early use: emotional attachment to, or love of, animals; opposition to cruelty to animals (= zoophilia, n. 1). Now usually: sexual attraction to…
   View in Historical Thesaurus
2. 2.
   1904–
   Ecology. Pollination by animals. Also: spec. pollination by vertebrate animals as distinct from insects. Cf. zoophilous adj. 1.
   1. 1904

      > Zoophily, or pollination by animals other than insects, seems to occur in a number of plants.

      J. C. Willis, Manual & Dictionary Flowering Plants & Ferns (ed. 2) 99
   2. 1921

      > The flowers show considerable adaptation to zoophily.

      Journal of Botany, Brit. & Foreign vol. 59 345
   3. 1967

      > Pollination is brought about by three main agents: wind, animals and water, the types being called respectively anemophily, zoophily and hydrophily.

      B. G. M. Jamieson & J. F. Reynols, Tropical Plant Types xii. 225
   4. 2010

      > Vertebrate pollination (zoophily) is primarily accomplished by hummingbirds and bats.

      E. C. Evans & C. A. Butler, Why do Bees Buzz? vi. 100
   ecology plants
   1. anemophily 1879–
      Pollination carried out by pollen dispersed in wind.
   2. wind pollination 1886–
      Pollination carried out by pollen dispersed by wind; an instance of this.
   3. hand-pollination 1890–
      Pollination carried out by hand, rather than occurring through natural means; an instance of this.
   4. acarophily 1898–
      The condition or fact of being acarophilous.
   5. ornithophily 1903–
      Ecology. Pollination by birds.
   6. zoophily 1904–
      Ecology. Pollination by animals. Also: spec. pollination by vertebrate animals as distinct from insects. Cf. zoophilous, adj. 1.
   7. hydrophily 1920–
      Pollination by the agency of water.
   8. zoochory 1921–
      The dispersal of plant seeds, spores, etc., by animals.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
3. 3.
   1928–
   Biology. The tendency of a parasitic organism (esp. a mosquito) to prefer feeding or living on animals rather than humans; the state of being zoophilic (zoophilic adj. 3). Cf. zoophilous adj. 2.
   1. 1928

      > The author first reviews earlier studies of the subject of zoophily in Anopheles.

      Exper. Station Rec. (U.S. Department of Agriculture) vol. 58 262
   2. 1938

      > There are thus among different species of mosquitoes degrees of zoophily and anthrophily.

      Journal of Parasitology vol. 24 93
   3. 1983

      > For simplicity in this discussion we have ignored the effect of zoophily, multiple feeding and the possibility that some individual flies may extend the duration of the gonotrophic cycle long enough to be infective after one cycle.

      Journal Applied Ecology vol. 20 510
   4. 2002

      > The high degree of zoophily coupled with the mostly outdoor feeding behavior during the summer, makes the likelihood for local malaria transmission by A [nopheles] messeae remote.

      Ambio vol. 31 218/1
   life sciences

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zuːˈɒfᵻli/
zoo-OFF-uh-lee
/zəʊˈɒfᵻli/
zoh-OFF-uh-lee
/zuːˈɒfl̩i/
zoo-OFF-uhl-ee
/zəʊˈɒfl̩i/
zoh-OFF-uhl-ee

### U.S. English

/zuˈɑfəli/
zoo-AH-fuh-lee
/zoʊˈɑfəli/
zoh-AH-fuh-lee

####

##### 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

See zoo- comb. form and ‑phily comb. form.

## Frequency

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

zoophily 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 zoophily, n., 1890–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1890 | 0.0012
1900 | 0.0016
1910 | 0.0019
1920 | 0.0031
1930 | 0.0032
1940 | 0.0037
1950 | 0.0041
1960 | 0.0041
1970 | 0.0038
1980 | 0.0035
1990 | 0.0024
2000 | 0.0025
2010 | 0.002

Originally published as part of the entry for zoophile, n.

zoophily, n. was revised in June 2017.

zoophily, n. was last modified in July 2023.