ZBB, n.

zbb
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zbb_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1986; not fully revised

# ZBBnoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun ZBB mean?

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

This word is used in U.S. English.

#### 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 ZBB?

About 0.09occurrences per million words in modern written English

1970 | 0.096
1980 | 0.086
1990 | 0.086
2000 | 0.086
2010 | 0.088

### Where does the noun ZBB come from?

Earliest known use

1970s

The earliest known use of the noun ZBB is in the 1970s.

OED's earliest evidence for ZBB is from 1976, in New York Times.

### Nearby entries

1. zarzuela, n. 1888–
2. zat, n. 1934–
3. zatch, n. 1950–
4. zawiya, n. 1836–
5. zawn, n. 1865–
6. zayat, n. 1823–
7. zayde, n. 1946–
8. zazen, n. 1727–
9. zazzy, adj. 1961–
10. Z band, n. 1950–
11. ZBB, n.1976–
12. Z-bed, n. 1973–
13. Z-car, n. 1961–
14. Z-day, n. 1925–
15. Z-DNA, n. 1979–
16. ze, pron. 1864–
17. zea, n. 1562–
18. zeagonite, n. 1823–
19. zeal, n. a1382–
20. zeal, v. 1542–1687
21. Zealander, n.¹ 1663–

## Meaning & use

U.S.

1. 1976–
   Zero-base(d) budgeting.
   1. 1976

      > Z.B.B., as it is widely known, calls for the justification of all spending in relation to priorities.

      New York Times 27 August d 1
   2. 1978

      > ZBB was formally delineated and put into practice for the first time by Texas Instruments, Inc., 15 years ago.

      National Civic Review vol. LXVII. 132
   finance U.S. English
   1. capital budgeting 1918–
      The process of preparing a capital budget.
   2. asset management 1932–
      The active management of assets in order to optimize return on investment.
   3. over-budgeting 1933–
      The action of overbudget, v.
   4. wealth management 1973–
      The management of wealth in order to get the optimal return on investment; (now) spec. the action, business, or practice of offering an…
   5. ZBB 1976–
      Zero-base(d) budgeting.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

ZBB typically occurs about 0.09 times per million words in modern written English.

ZBB 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 ZBB, n., 1970–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1970 | 0.096
1980 | 0.086
1990 | 0.086
2000 | 0.086
2010 | 0.088

Originally published as part of the entry for Z, n.

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