zanyism, n.

zanyism
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zanyism_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2024

# zanyismnoun

## Earlier version

- zanyism in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zanyism mean?

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

### How common is the noun zanyism?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1830 | 0.0016
1840 | 0.0014
1850 | 0.0013
1860 | 0.0012
1870 | 0.0014
1880 | 0.0012
1890 | 0.0008
1900 | 0.0008
1910 | 0.0006
1920 | 0.0005
1930 | 0.0006
1940 | 0.0003
1950 | 0.0003
1960 | 0.0003
1970 | 0.0002
1980 | 0.0002
1990 | 0.0002
2000 | 0.0002
2010 | 0.0001

### How is the noun zanyism pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzeɪniɪz(ə)m/
ZAY-nee-iz-uhm

#### U.S. English

/ˈzeɪniˌɪzəm/
ZAY-nee-iz-uhm

### Where does the noun zanyism come from?

Earliest known use

1820s

The earliest known use of the noun zanyism is in the 1820s.

OED's earliest evidence for zanyism is from 1823, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.

zanyism is formed within English, by derivation.

Etymons: zany n., ‑ism suffix.

### Nearby entries

1. zander, n. 1854–
2. zanella, n. 1876–
3. zanily, adv. 1936–
4. zaniness, n. 1933–
5. Zante, n. 1615–
6. Zantedeschia, n. 1836–
7. ZANU, n. 1963–
8. zany, n. & adj. 1582–
9. zany, v. 1602–1894
10. zanyish, adj. 1843–
11. zanyism, n.1823–
12. zanyship, n. 1766–1839
13. Zanzibari, n. & adj. 1882–
14. zap, n. 1968–
15. zap, v. 1942–
16. zap, int. 1929–
17. Zapata, n. 1962–
18. zapateado, n. 1845–
19. Zapatism, n. 1911–
20. Zapatismo, n. 1913–
21. Zapatist, n. & adj. 1911–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by derivation.
Etymons: zany n., ‑ism suffix.
< zany n. + ‑ism suffix.

In later use influenced by association with zany adj.

## Meaning & use

Now rare.

1. 1823–
   The condition, characteristics, or behaviour of a zany (in various senses of zany n.); esp. foolishness or buffoonery; (in later use) imaginatively unconventional or idiosyncratic character, quality, or behaviour; zaniness. Also: an instance of this; a foolish, ludicrous, or eccentric act or form of behaviour.
   1. 1823

      > Such zanyisms as these [sc. limericks].

      Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine June 662/1
   2. 1880

      > I go into a Church of England and see acted a sort of zanyism.

      West Briton 3 June 6/3
   3. 1938

      > Out in Minneapolis right now is a screwy outfit called ‘The Rodeolier’ who achieve the epitomy of zanyism by hanging one of their members to a rafter.

      Swing November 4/1
   4. 1988

      > A component of zanyism seems vital to the temperament of any good comic actor or actress.

      H. Levin, Playboys & Killjoys viii. 84
   5. 2001

      > For all her zanyisms, Mother had been a serious collector and preserver of fashion history.

      D. B. Frank, Plantation xlviii. 516
   1. harlotry c1384–1809
      Coarse or indecent language or behaviour; crude jesting; ribaldry; obscenity. Also in weaker sense: frivolous entertainment or behaviour…
   2. May game 1571–
      A foolish or extravagant action or performance; a frolic, caper, or entertainment. Now English regional (south-western).
   3. scogginism 1593–1620
      Scurrilous jesting.
   4. buffianism 1596
      Buffoonery.
   5. delirium 1599–
      Irrational, deluded, or absurd thought, speech, or behaviour; delusion, absurdity. Also: an absurd, irrational, or deluded belief or remark.
   6. fooling 1602–
      With qualifying adjective in adverbial phrases with in or into. The mood or mental state for jesting or acting in an amusing or ridiculous…
   7. scoggery 1602
      Buffoonery, scurrility.
   8. buffoonism 1611–
      = buffoonery, n.
   9. nonsense 1612–
      That which is not sense; absurd or meaningless words or ideas.
   10. scurrility 1614–24
       Buffoon-like behaviour. Obsolete.
   11. buffoonery 1621–
       The practice of a buffoon; low jesting or ridicule, farce.
   12. buffooning a1672–
       The action of playing the buffoon; low jesting, buffoonery. Also attributive.
   13. buffoon 1780–
       Used for ‘buffoonery’.
   14. pantomime 1781
       Originally: (Classical History) a theatrical performer popular in the Roman Empire who represented mythological stories through gestures and…
   15. zanyism 1823–
       The condition, characteristics, or behaviour of a zany (in various senses of zany, n.); esp. foolishness or buffoonery; (in later use) imaginatively…
   16. harlequinade 1828–
       transferred. Buffoonery; fantastic procedure.
   17. loony tunes 1940–
       Actions, ideas, behaviour, etc., regarded as foolish, wildly irrational, or delusional.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. buffoonery 1621–
      The practice of a buffoon; low jesting or ridicule, farce.
   2. jack-puddinghood 1749
   3. zanyism 1823–
      The condition, characteristics, or behaviour of a zany (in various senses of zany, n.); esp. foolishness or buffoonery; (in later use) imaginatively…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzeɪniɪz(ə)m/
ZAY-nee-iz-uhm

### U.S. English

/ˈzeɪniˌɪzəm/
ZAY-nee-iz-uhm

####

##### 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

## Frequency

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

zanyism 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 zanyism, n., 1830–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1830 | 0.0016
1840 | 0.0014
1850 | 0.0013
1860 | 0.0012
1870 | 0.0014
1880 | 0.0012
1890 | 0.0008
1900 | 0.0008
1910 | 0.0006
1920 | 0.0005
1930 | 0.0006
1940 | 0.0003
1950 | 0.0003
1960 | 0.0003
1970 | 0.0002
1980 | 0.0002
1990 | 0.0002
2000 | 0.0002
2010 | 0.0001

zanyism, n. was revised in March 2024.

zanyism, n. was last modified in June 2024.