There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun zoophyton, one of which is labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.
zoophyton has developed meanings and uses in subjects including
<post-classical Latinzoophyton (15th cent.) <Hellenistic Greekζῳόϕυτον plant <ancient Greekζῳο-zoo-comb. form + ϕυτόν plant (see phyto-comb. form and compare ‑phytecomb. form).In quot. 1601 after Frenchzoophyte (see zoophyten.).Compare slightly later zoophyten. (slightly earlier with sense 2).
Notes
The plural form zoophyta reflects the plural forms of the respective Greek and Latin words. In the former group name Zoophyta after scientific LatinZoophyta (Linnaeus Systema Naturae (1735)).
The use of zoophyta with singular agreement in quot. 1601 may show a reinterpretation after Latin feminine singular forms in ‑a.
Meaning & use
Biology. Now historical.
1.
1601–
Originally: an animal thought to resemble or have certain characteristics of a plant or flower. In later use (usually in plural): spec. any animal belonging to the (former) group Zoophyta, comprising certain sessile invertebrate animals, typically with a branching or radiating structure, such as crinoids, hydrozoans, sponges, and bryozoans. Cf. zoophyten. 1.
Also called animal flower, animal plant, phytozoon, plant-animal.
1601
The Zoophyta [French le Zoophyte] partaketh of the plant and animal.
R. Dolman, translation of P. de la Primaudaye, French Academievol. III. 67
1635
Mid creatures which wee call Zoophyta, and Plantanimalia.
D. Person, Varietiesi. 39
1651
The Zeophyton [sic; Latin zoophytum] (i.e.) half Aniamll [sic], and half Plant.
J. F., translation of H. C. Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophyi. xxxvii. 74
1682
To blame her [sc. Providence] for making Zoophiton's, or rather Amphibion's.
H. More, Annot. Lux Orientalis 53 in Two Choice & Useful Treatises
1744
A Zoophyton, somewhat resembling the Flower of the Marigold.
Zoophyta. These are..said to resemble a flower, and to spring from a vegetating stem.
R. Kentish, Ess. Method of studying Natural History 89
1855
The innumerable tribes of zoophyta, mollusca, and other [in]vertebrata.
J. Phillips, Manual of Geology 46
1879
This zoophyton was found on the side of a small mountain brook of Ootacamund, in the water.
Gardeners' Chronicle 28 June 816/3
1928
As we cannot even say where plants and animals begin, since the ‘zoophyta’ forms are so similar to both, we cannot tell in which division to place them.
E. Hawks, Pioneers of Plant Study viii. 57
1957
He mentions 128 types of animal life which fall into the following categories: Zoophyta, Worms, Crustacea, Insecta, Arachnida, Mollusca, Fishes, Amphibia, Reptilia, Birds, Mammals.
Journal Hist. Med. Allied Sciencevol. 12 106
2009
Some saw in the zoophyta evidence that there was no essential difference between plants and animals.
† A plant thought to resemble an animal or to have certain certain qualities characteristic of animals, esp. a sensitive plant (sensitive plantn. 1b) or vegetable lamb (vegetable lambn.). Cf. zoophyten. 2. Obsolete.
Also called plant-animal.
1627
Zoophyta, or plants resembling liuing creatures (as the Mandrage resembling a man, the hearbe called the scythian lambe, resembling a lambe) are a middle betwixt animals and plants.
J. Weemes, Pourtraiture Image of God in Mani. v. 49
1653
The sensative Plant, and other Zoophyta.
W. Harvey, Anatomical Exercitations xvii. 95
1695
A species call'd Boranetz, i.e. the little Lamb, by the Natives, and by others Zoophyton, or the Animal Plant, which in shape resembles a Lamb.., and is cover'd with a downy or woolly skin.
Thes. Geographicus 358/2
?1790
Among other vegetables we find here..in the neighbourhood of Astracan, the celebrated zoophyton.
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.
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.
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
Forms
Inflections
Plural: zoophyta ( British English /ˈzuː(ə)fʌɪtə/ (ZOO-uh-figh-tuh) , /ˌzuː(ə)ˈfʌɪtə/ (zoo-uh-FIGH-tuh) , /ˈzəʊəfʌɪtə/ (ZOH-uh-figh-tuh) , /ˌzəʊəˈfʌɪtə/ (zoh-uh-FIGH-tuh) , U.S. English /ˈzoʊəˌfaɪdə/ (ZOH-uh-figh-duh) , /ˌzoʊəˈfaɪdə/ (zoh-uh-FIGH-duh) , /ˈzu(ə)ˌfaɪdə/ (ZOO-uh-figh-duh) , /ˌzu(ə)ˈfaɪdə/ (zoo-uh-FIGH-duh) )
Variant forms
1600s
zoophiton, zoophyta (singular)
1600s–
zoophyton (now rare)
1800s–1900s
zoöphyta (plural)
Frequency
zoophyton typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zoophyton 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 zoophyton, n., 1770–2010
* 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
1770
0.012
1780
0.013
1790
0.012
1800
0.017
1810
0.018
1820
0.023
1830
0.021
1840
0.019
1850
0.017
1860
0.016
1870
0.01
1880
0.0079
1890
0.0031
1900
0.0023
1910
0.0006
1920
0.0005
1930
0.0006
1940
0.0004
1950
0.0003
1960
0.0003
1970
0.0002
1980
0.0002
1990
0.0002
2000
0.0002
2010
0.0002
zoophyton, n. was first published in June 2017.
zoophyton, n. was last modified in September 2024.