With quot. 1697 compare also the isolated English formation †Zendikees (plural), which Prideaux used to denote the adherents of these beliefs (in a different work, also in 1697); compare French †Zindiki, plural (1670 in a translation of the passage cited in quot. 1667 at Zindiqn.). These apparently reflect a derivative of Persianzandīk heretic (see Zindiqn.); compare ‑ī, suffix expressing belonging. Compare also Persianzindīqī heresy (zindīq heretic (<Arabiczindīq: see Zindiqn.) + ‑ī, suffix).
Compare post-classical LatinZendicismus, FrenchZendicisme (both 1698 in translations of the work cited in quot. 1697).
Meaning & use
rare after 19th cent.
1697–
Heresy, irreligion. Frequently spec. with reference to Persia or the Ottoman Empire: adherence to any of various sects considered to be heretical, esp. Manichaeism and Mazdakism. Cf. Zindiqn.
1697
Zendicism, an Error among the Arabs near of kin to the Sadducism of the Jews,..denying Providence, the Resurrection, and a Future State.
H. Prideaux, True Nature of Imposture in Life of Mahomet 13
1734
He has been violently accused of Zendicism, or denying a Providence and the Resurrection.
Bayle's General Dictionary Historical & Critical (new edition) vol. I. 117
1759
He [sc. Harun Al Rashid] massacred great numbers of his subjects who had embraced Zendicism.
Modern Part of Universal Historyvol. II. 322
1812
Deeply polluted as they are by the principles of Zendicism.
D. Price, Chronol. Retrospect Mahommedan Historyvol. II. ii. 69
1877
The Persians exulted in crimes and Zendicism abounded.
W. Smith & H. Wace, Dictionary of Christian Biographyvol. I. 477/2
1935
A new faith, Zendicism, which, according to its enemies at least, inculcated not only the community of property, but also of wives.
C. Roth, Bird's-eye View Jewish History xi. 122
1992
Accusing the Democrats of everything from atheism to zendicism, they are running for cover.
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
Variant forms
Also with lower-case initial.
Frequency
Zendicism typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
Zendicism 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 Zendicism, n., 1780–2010
* 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
1780
0.0014
1790
0.0026
1800
0.0023
1810
0.0021
1820
0.0016
1830
0.0017
1840
0.0016
1850
0.0015
1860
0.0004
1870
0.0003
1880
0.0001
1890
0.0001
1900
0.0001
1910
0.0001
1920
0.0001
1930
0.0001
1940
0.0001
1950
0.0001
1960
0.0001
1970
0.0001
1980
0.0002
1990
0.0002
2000
0.0001
2010
0.0001
Originally published as part of the entry for Zindiq, n.
Zendicism, n. was revised in June 2018.
Zendicism, n. was last modified in September 2024.