zirconia, n.

zirconia
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zirconia_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2021

# zirconianoun

## Earlier version

- zirconia in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zirconia mean?

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

### How common is the noun zirconia?

About 0.3occurrences per million words in modern written English

1800 | 0.16
1810 | 0.16
1820 | 0.15
1830 | 0.13
1840 | 0.11
1850 | 0.1
1860 | 0.081
1870 | 0.071
1880 | 0.068
1890 | 0.072
1900 | 0.096
1910 | 0.099
1920 | 0.1
1930 | 0.11
1940 | 0.12
1950 | 0.11
1960 | 0.14
1970 | 0.22
1980 | 0.26
1990 | 0.3
2000 | 0.34
2010 | 0.37

### How is the noun zirconia pronounced?

#### British English

/zəːˈkəʊniə/
zur-KOH-nee-uh
/zəˈkəʊniə/
zuh-KOH-nee-uh

#### U.S. English

/zərˈkoʊniə/
zuhr-KOH-nee-uh

### Where does the noun zirconia come from?

Earliest known use

late 1700s

The earliest known use of the noun zirconia is in the late 1700s.

OED's earliest evidence for zirconia is from 1794, in the writing of J. G. Schmeisser.

zirconia is a borrowing from Latin.

Etymons: Latin circonia.

### Nearby entries

1. zir, adj. 1993–
2. ziraleet, n. 1794–
3. ziram, n. 1950–
4. zirbal, adj.?a1425–
5. zirbus, n. a1400–
6. zircaloy, n. 1953–
7. zircon, n. 1794–
8. zirconate, n. 1820–
9. zircon blue, n. & adj. 1928–
10. zircon earth, n. 1794–
11. zirconia, n.1794–
12. zirconian, adj. 1802–
13. zirconic, adj. 1804–
14. zirconite, n. 1806–
15. zirconitic, adj. 1883–
16. zirconium, n. 1808–
17. zircon-like, adj. 1857–
18. zircono-, comb. form
19. zirconolite, n. 1957–
20. zircon-syenite, n. 1813–
21. zirconyl, n. 1887–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Latin.
Etymon: Latin circonia.
< scientific Latin circonia (compare quot. 1794 at main sense), use as noun (short for terra circonia zircon earth: see zircon earth n.) of the feminine of circonius (1789 or earlier in silex circonius: see zircon n.) <…
< scientific Latin circonia (compare quot. 1794 at main sense), use as noun (short for terra circonia zircon earth: see zircon earth n.) of the feminine of circonius (1789 or earlier in silex circonius: see zircon n.) < German Zirkon zircon n. + classical Latin ‑ius, suffix forming adjectives.

Compare French circonie (1794), and also scientific Latin circonius (noun), denoting zircon (1789 or earlier).

### Notes

In forms with z- showing alteration after zircon n.
In form zircona showing alteration after ‑a suffix1 2.
Compare the following earlier example of scientific Latin terra circonia in an English context:

1. 1790

   > This earth, which Mr. K[laproth] terms terra circonia, appeared to differ in some respects from each of the five primitive earths hitherto admitted.

   Analytical Review vol. 7 469

## Meaning & use

Chemistry.

1. 1794–
   A white solid, zirconium dioxide, which is made by heating zirconium compounds in contact with air and is used in ceramic glazes and heat-resistant coatings.
   Formula: ZrO2. Zirconia occurs naturally as the mineral baddeleyite.
   cubic zirconia: see cubic adj.
   1. 1794

      > According to Klaproth, it yielded by analysis 68 grains of circonia, 31 grains of siliceous earths, one grain of iron.

      J. G. Schmeisser, System of Mineralogy vol. I. 57
   2. 1800

      > When exposed to a violent heat, zirconia [French la zircone] becomes fused, and assumes a somewhat greyish colour.

      translation of E. J. B. Bouillon-Lagrange, Manual of Course of Chemistry vol. I. 160
   3. 1812

      > Zircona is soluble in the mineral acids.

      H. Davy, Elements of Chemical Philosophy 361
   4. 1872

      > The oxyhydrogen light..attains a still higher intensity, if a piece of magnesium or zirconia be substituted for the cylinder of lime.

      J. Lassell & C. Lassell, translation of H. Schellen, Spectrum Analysis 19
   5. 1938

      > Zirconia..melts above 2000°C., and can be used for crucibles and furnace linings, but is too expensive for common use.

      R. Hum, Chemistry for Engineering Students xxv. 691
   6. 1999

      > When zirconia is vacuum brazed, it undergoes significant (and unsightly) discoloration due to the diffusion of oxygen from the zirconia.

      Global Ceramic Review Autumn 28/2
   chemistry
   1. zircon earth 1794–
      Zirconia (zirconium dioxide).
   2. zirconia 1794–
      A white solid, zirconium dioxide, which is made by heating zirconium compounds in contact with air and is used in ceramic glazes and…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zəːˈkəʊniə/
zur-KOH-nee-uh
/zəˈkəʊniə/
zuh-KOH-nee-uh

### U.S. English

/zərˈkoʊniə/
zuhr-KOH-nee-uh

####

##### 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–1800s
   circonia
2. 1800s
   zircona
3. 1800s–
   zirconia

## Frequency

zirconia typically occurs about 0.3 times per million words in modern written English.

zirconia is in frequency band 4, which contains words occurring between 0.1 and 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 zirconia, n., 1800–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1800 | 0.16
1810 | 0.16
1820 | 0.15
1830 | 0.13
1840 | 0.11
1850 | 0.1
1860 | 0.081
1870 | 0.071
1880 | 0.068
1890 | 0.072
1900 | 0.096
1910 | 0.099
1920 | 0.1
1930 | 0.11
1940 | 0.12
1950 | 0.11
1960 | 0.14
1970 | 0.22
1980 | 0.26
1990 | 0.3
2000 | 0.34
2010 | 0.37

### Frequency of zirconia, n., 2017–2024

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Modern frequency series are derived from a corpus of 20 billion words, covering the period from 2017 to the present. The corpus is mainly compiled from online news sources, and covers all major varieties of World English.

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 corpus.

Period | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
2017 | 0.071
2018 | 0.068
2019 | 0.069
2020 | 0.068
2021 | 0.079
2022 | 0.083
2023 | 0.089
2024 | 0.095

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zirconian, adj. 1802–
   Of, relating to, or containing zircon or…

1. cubic zirconia, n. 1942–
   The cubic crystalline form of zirconia (zirconium…

1. 1849–
   In general use as a modifier.
   1. 1849

      > The zirconia-salts [German Zirkonerdesalzen] are not precipitated by zinc.

      H. Watts, translation of L. Gmelin, Hand-book of Chemistry vol. III. xiv. 343
   2. 1869

      > One night, however, at a soirée at King's College, the zirconia light was exhibited, burning with great steadiness and brilliancy.

      Engineer 4 June 399/3
   3. 1992

      > Blades of alumina and zirconia ceramics..are more expensive but stay sharper than steel-bladed products.

      New Scientist 12 September 22/3
   chemistry

zirconia, n. was revised in March 2021.

zirconia, n. was last modified in March 2025.