zestfully, adv.

zestfully
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zestfully_adv%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2024

# zestfullyadverb

## Factsheet

### What does the adverb zestfully mean?

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

### How common is the adverb zestfully?

About 0.03occurrences per million words in modern written English

1860 | 0.0018
1870 | 0.0021
1880 | 0.0042
1890 | 0.0072
1900 | 0.014
1910 | 0.023
1920 | 0.03
1930 | 0.037
1940 | 0.042
1950 | 0.043
1960 | 0.043
1970 | 0.038
1980 | 0.032
1990 | 0.029
2000 | 0.024
2010 | 0.021

### Where does the adverb zestfully come from?

Earliest known use

1840s

The earliest known use of the adverb zestfully is in the 1840s.

OED's earliest evidence for zestfully is from 1843, in Sheffield & Rotherham Independent.

### Nearby entries

1. zerovalent, adj. 1906–
2. zero waste, adj. & n. 1974–
3. zero-zero, adj. & n. 1930–
4. zerumbet, n. 1640–
5. zest, n.¹ 1674–
6. zest, n.² 1706
7. zest, v. 1702–
8. zest, int. 1705–22
9. zester, n. 1963–
10. zestful, adj. 1797–
11. zestfully, adv.1843–
12. zestiness, n. 1912–
13. zesty, adj. 1826–
14. zeta, n.¹?a1425–
15. zeta, n.² 1706–1860
16. zetacism, n. 1860–
17. zeta function, n. 1879–
18. zeta-ic, adj. 1840–1927
19. zeta potential, n. 1927–
20. zetetic, adj. & n. 1645–
21. zetetical, adj. & n. 1646–

## Meaning & use

1. 1843–
   In a zestful manner; with great energy or liveliness.
   Stressed as ˈzestfully.
   1. 1843

      > It always flits zestfully from my tongue.

      Sheffield & Rotherham Independent 29 July 3/1
   2. 1901

      > At seventy I sip the wine of life as zestfully as when I was seventeen.

      Independent (New York) 18 April 889/1
   3. 2003

      > She is now a medical student who zestfully balances domestic duties and intense study.

      S. W. Levine, Mystics, Mavericks, & Merrymakers (2004) i. 54
   1. relishingly 1683–
      With relish or enjoyment.
   2. zestfully 1843–
      In a zestful manner; with great energy or liveliness.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zestfully typically occurs about 0.03 times per million words in modern written English.

zestfully 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 zestfully, adv., 1860–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1860 | 0.0018
1870 | 0.0021
1880 | 0.0042
1890 | 0.0072
1900 | 0.014
1910 | 0.023
1920 | 0.03
1930 | 0.037
1940 | 0.042
1950 | 0.043
1960 | 0.043
1970 | 0.038
1980 | 0.032
1990 | 0.029
2000 | 0.024
2010 | 0.021

Originally published as part of the entry for zestful, adj.

zestfully, adv. was updated in 2024.