zimbnoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zimb mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zimb. 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 zimb?
| 1790 | 0.011 |
| 1800 | 0.011 |
| 1810 | 0.0096 |
| 1820 | 0.009 |
| 1830 | 0.0071 |
| 1840 | 0.0067 |
| 1850 | 0.0056 |
| 1860 | 0.0047 |
| 1870 | 0.0035 |
| 1880 | 0.0032 |
| 1890 | 0.0025 |
| 1900 | 0.0014 |
| 1910 | 0.0006 |
| 1920 | 0.0004 |
| 1930 | 0.0004 |
| 1940 | 0.0002 |
| 1950 | 0.0002 |
| 1960 | 0.0001 |
| 1970 | 0.0001 |
| 1980 | 0.0002 |
| 1990 | 0.0001 |
| 2000 | 0.0001 |
| 2010 | 0.0001 |
How is the noun zimb pronounced?
British English
Where does the noun zimb come from?
Earliest known use
late 1700s
The earliest known use of the noun zimb is in the late 1700s.
OED's earliest evidence for zimb is from 1790, in the writing of James Bruce, traveller in Africa.
zimb is a borrowing from Amharic.
Nearby entries
- zilch, v.1957–
- zill, n.1754–
- zilla, n.1772–
- -zilla, comb. form
- zilladar, n.1763–
- Zil lane, n.1985–
- zilla parishad, n.1957–
- zillion, n. & adj.1920–
- zillionaire, n.1926–
- zillionth, n. & adj.1940–
- zimb, n.1790–
- Zimba, n.1625–
- Zimbabwe, n.1891–
- Zimbabwean, adj. & n.1961–
- zimbel, n.1888–
- zimme, n.1848–63
- Zimmer, n.1951–
- zina, n.1817–
- zinc, n.1651–
- zinc, v.1843–
- zinc-air, adj.1970–
Etymology
Meaning & use
- 1790–A dipterous insect of Ethiopia, allied to and resembling the tsetse, and very destructive to cattle.
- 1790
Large swarms of flies appeared wherever that loomy earth was... This insect is called Zimb... It is in size very little larger than a bee.
J. Bruce, Travels Source of Nile vol. I. 388 - a1827
He spake, and the zimb-fly came.
Good, Ps. cv. 31 (1854) 415
the world animals invertebrates phylum Arthropoda class Insecta order Diptera or flies [nouns] suborder Cyclorrhapha family Muscidae glossina morsitans (tsetse-fly) insect allied to- zimb1790–A dipterous insect of Ethiopia, allied to and resembling the tsetse, and very destructive to cattle.
Pronunciation
British 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.
Frequency
zimb typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zimb is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency of zimb, n., 1790–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1790 | 0.011 |
| 1800 | 0.011 |
| 1810 | 0.0096 |
| 1820 | 0.009 |
| 1830 | 0.0071 |
| 1840 | 0.0067 |
| 1850 | 0.0056 |
| 1860 | 0.0047 |
| 1870 | 0.0035 |
| 1880 | 0.0032 |
| 1890 | 0.0025 |
| 1900 | 0.0014 |
| 1910 | 0.0006 |
| 1920 | 0.0004 |
| 1930 | 0.0004 |
| 1940 | 0.0002 |
| 1950 | 0.0002 |
| 1960 | 0.0001 |
| 1970 | 0.0001 |
| 1980 | 0.0002 |
| 1990 | 0.0001 |
| 2000 | 0.0001 |
| 2010 | 0.0001 |