zwanziger, n.

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

# zwanzigernoun

## Earlier version

- zwanziger in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zwanziger mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zwanziger. 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 zwanziger?

About 0.02occurrences per million words in modern written English

1830 | 0.029
1840 | 0.025
1850 | 0.023
1860 | 0.022
1870 | 0.022
1880 | 0.018
1890 | 0.012
1900 | 0.0075
1910 | 0.0069
1920 | 0.0063
1930 | 0.0061
1940 | 0.0079
1950 | 0.011
1960 | 0.015
1970 | 0.017
1980 | 0.019
1990 | 0.022
2000 | 0.023
2010 | 0.024

### How is the noun zwanziger pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈtsvantsɪɡər/

### Where does the noun zwanziger come from?

Earliest known use

1820s

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

OED's earliest evidence for zwanziger is from 1828, in the writing of R. Craig.

zwanziger is a borrowing from German.

### Nearby entries

1. Zurich, n. 1870–
2. Zuricher, n. 1673–
3. zurla, n. 1940–
4. zurlite, n. 1826–
5. zurna, n. 1870–
6. zurr, n. 1803–
7. zussmanite, n. 1965–
8. zut, int. 1915–
9. zuur-veldt, n. 1785–
10. zuz, n. 1688–
11. zwanziger, n.1828–
12. Zweig, n. 1973–
13. zwieback, n. 1894–
14. zwieselite, n. 1861–
15. Zwinglian, n. & adj. 1532–
16. Zwinglianism, n. 1581–
17. Zwinglianist, n. 1673–1759
18. zwischenzug, n. 1941–
19. zwitterion, n. 1906–
20. zwitterionic, adj. 1946–
21. Zydeco, n. 1949–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from German.
German, < zwanzig twenty + ‑er masculine adjective ending.

## Meaning & use

1. 1828–
   A former Austrian silver coin, equivalent to twenty kreutzers.
   1. 1828

      > A passenger pays a zwanzig[er] or 17½ sous of France per hour.

      R. Craig in Mem. (1862) viii. 151
   2. 1841

      > I possess a burning pocket-full of zwanzigers.

      R. Browning, Pippa Passes ii, in Bells & Pomegranates No. I 10/2
   3. 1866

      > Lest the fervid imagination of the gondolier rise to zwanzigers and florins.

      W. D. Howells, Venetian Life xix
   coins and banknotes
   1. kreutzer a1549–
      A small coin (originally silver, afterwards copper) formerly current in parts of Germany and in Austria.
   2. schilling 1753–
      A silver coin and money of account formerly in use in North Germany, of the value of […] mark or 12 pfennigs; (in 1910 slightly over 1d. sterling)…
   3. zwanziger 1828–
      A former Austrian silver coin, equivalent to twenty kreutzers.
   4. Maria Theresa 1863–
      A large silver thaler originally issued to commemorate the death of Maria Theresa and subsequently restruck, with the date and design unchanged, at…
   5. krone 1893–
      The principal monetary unit of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1892 to 1918, consisting of 100 heller; (also) a gold coin representing one…
   6. korona 1899–
      The principal monetary unit of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1892 to 1918, consisting of 100 filler (filler, n.³); cf. krone, n.¹ 3. Later: the…
   7. groschen 1978–
      A former monetary unit of Austria, equivalent to one hundredth of a schilling; (also) a coin of this value.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈtsvantsɪɡər/

####

##### 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.

## Frequency

zwanziger typically occurs about 0.02 times per million words in modern written English.

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

### Frequency of zwanziger, 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 | 0.029
1840 | 0.025
1850 | 0.023
1860 | 0.022
1870 | 0.022
1880 | 0.018
1890 | 0.012
1900 | 0.0075
1910 | 0.0069
1920 | 0.0063
1930 | 0.0061
1940 | 0.0079
1950 | 0.011
1960 | 0.015
1970 | 0.017
1980 | 0.019
1990 | 0.022
2000 | 0.023
2010 | 0.024

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

zwanziger, n. was last modified in December 2024.