zygosphenal, adj.

zygosphenal
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zygosphenal_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1921; not fully revised

# zygosphenaladjective

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective zygosphenal mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the adjective zygosphenal. 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 adjective zygosphenal?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1850 | 0.0016
1860 | 0.0013
1870 | 0.0011
1880 | 0.0009
1890 | 0.0008
1900 | 0.0006
1910 | 0.0004
1920 | 0.0001
1930 | 0.0001
1940 | 0.0002
1950 | 0.0002
1960 | 0.0001
1970 | 0.0001
1980 | 0.0002
1990 | 0.0002
2000 | 0.0003
2010 | 0.0002

### Where does the adjective zygosphenal come from?

Earliest known use

1850s

The earliest known use of the adjective zygosphenal is in the 1850s.

OED's only evidence for zygosphenal is from 1854, in the writing of Richard Owen, comparative anatomist and palaeontologist.

### Nearby entries

1. zygophiuran, adj. & n. 1892–
2. zygophore, n. 1904–
3. zygophyllaceous, adj. 1887–
4. zygophyte, n. 1885–
5. zygopleura, n. 1883–
6. zygopterid, n. & adj. 1900–
7. zygosis, n. 1880–
8. zygosity, n. 1952–
9. zygosome, n. 1905–
10. zygosperm, n. 1880–
11. zygosphenal, adj.1854–
12. zygosphene, n. 1854–
13. zygosphere, n. 1880–
14. zygospondyline, adj. 1892–
15. zygospore, n. 1864–
16. zygosporic, adj. 1906–
17. zygostat, n. 1623
18. zygostatical, adj. 1656
19. zygostyle, n. 1881–
20. zygote, n. 1891–
21. zygotene, n. 1911–

## Meaning & use

Anatomy and Zoology.

1. 1854–
   Belonging to or constituting a zygosphene.
   Stressed as zygoˈsphenal.
   1. 1854

      > Surfaces to which the zygosphenal surfaces are adapted.

      R. Owen, Structure of Skeleton & Teeth in Orr's Circle of Sciences: Organic Nature vol. I. 197
   animals anatomy
   1. zygosphenal 1854–
      Belonging to or constituting a zygosphene.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

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

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

### Frequency of zygosphenal, adj., 1850–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1850 | 0.0016
1860 | 0.0013
1870 | 0.0011
1880 | 0.0009
1890 | 0.0008
1900 | 0.0006
1910 | 0.0004
1920 | 0.0001
1930 | 0.0001
1940 | 0.0002
1950 | 0.0002
1960 | 0.0001
1970 | 0.0001
1980 | 0.0002
1990 | 0.0002
2000 | 0.0003
2010 | 0.0002

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

zygosphene, n. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.