zygosporenoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zygospore mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zygospore. 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 zygospore?
| 1870 | 0.15 |
| 1880 | 0.17 |
| 1890 | 0.17 |
| 1900 | 0.17 |
| 1910 | 0.18 |
| 1920 | 0.16 |
| 1930 | 0.15 |
| 1940 | 0.14 |
| 1950 | 0.12 |
| 1960 | 0.094 |
| 1970 | 0.074 |
| 1980 | 0.062 |
| 1990 | 0.052 |
| 2000 | 0.043 |
| 2010 | 0.037 |
How is the noun zygospore pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun zygospore come from?
Earliest known use
1860s
The earliest known use of the noun zygospore is in the 1860s.
OED's earliest evidence for zygospore is from 1864, in Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science.
zygospore is a borrowing from German.
Etymons: German zygospor.
Nearby entries
- zygopleura, n.1883–
- zygopterid, n. & adj.1900–
- zygosis, n.1880–
- zygosity, n.1952–
- zygosome, n.1905–
- zygosperm, n.1880–
- zygosphenal, adj.1854–
- zygosphene, n.1854–
- zygosphere, n.1880–
- zygospondyline, adj.1892–
- zygospore, n.1864–
- zygosporic, adj.1906–
- zygostat, n.1623
- zygostatical, adj.1656
- zygostyle, n.1881–
- zygote, n.1891–
- zygotene, n.1911–
- zygotic, adj.1909–
- -zygotic, comb. form
- zygotically, adv.1915–
- zygotoblast, n.1899–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1864–A spore formed by conjugation; a germ-cell arising from the fusion of two similar cells (gametes), as in certain Algæ and Fungi.
- 1864
I have..made use of..the more apt term ‘Zygospore’, as suggested by Professor De Bary in his work ‘Untersuchungen..’ in preference to the..inaccurate term ‘Sporangium’ of most other authors.
Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science vol. 4 178 - 1875
The threads which conjugate to form the zygospores.
M. C. Cooke, Fungi 164
the world plants part of plant reproductive part(s) spore or sporule [nouns] type of zygospore and parts- zygospore1864–A spore formed by conjugation; a germ-cell arising from the fusion of two similar cells (gametes), as in certain Algæ and Fungi.
- zygosperm1880–= zygospore, n.
- zygosphere1880–Either of the two conjugating cells or gametes which form a zygospore.
- azygospore1889–A parthenogenetic zygospore.
Pronunciation
British English
U.S. 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.
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
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
zygospore typically occurs about 0.05 times per million words in modern written English.
zygospore is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency of zygospore, n., 1870–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1870 | 0.15 |
| 1880 | 0.17 |
| 1890 | 0.17 |
| 1900 | 0.17 |
| 1910 | 0.18 |
| 1920 | 0.16 |
| 1930 | 0.15 |
| 1940 | 0.14 |
| 1950 | 0.12 |
| 1960 | 0.094 |
| 1970 | 0.074 |
| 1980 | 0.062 |
| 1990 | 0.052 |
| 2000 | 0.043 |
| 2010 | 0.037 |
Compounds & derived words
- azygospore, n. 1889–A parthenogenetic zygospore.
- zygosporic, adj. 1906–Of the nature of or producing zygospores.