zero-energy, adj.

zero-energy
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zero-energy_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zero-energyadjective

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective zero-energy mean?

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

### How common is the adjective zero-energy?

About 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1940 | 0.011
1950 | 0.012
1960 | 0.011
1970 | 0.012
1980 | 0.014
1990 | 0.014
2000 | 0.013
2010 | 0.013

### Where does the adjective zero-energy come from?

Earliest known use

1940s

The earliest known use of the adjective zero-energy is in the 1940s.

OED's earliest evidence for zero-energy is from 1947, in Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

### Nearby entries

1. zero-coupon, adj. 1979–
2. zero creep, n. 1904–
3. zero crossing, n. 1941–
4. zero day, n. 1917–
5. zero-defect, adj. 1964–
6. zero derivation, n. 1960–
7. zero derivative, adj. & n. 1948–
8. zero-derived, adj. 1971–
9. zero-dimensional, adj. 1880–
10. zero-emission, n. & adj. 1952–
11. zero-energy, adj.1947–
12. zero-field, adj. 1915–
13. zero-G, adj. & n. 1950–
14. zero grade, n. 1888–
15. zero gravity, n. & adj. 1915–
16. zero-graze, v. 1954–
17. zero-grazed, adj. 1958–
18. zero grazing, n. 1954–
19. zero growth, n. 1907–
20. zero hour, n. 1915–
21. zero-hours, adj. 1988–

## Meaning & use

Nuclear Physics.

1. 1947–
   Designating a small nuclear reactor, built for research purposes, that develops so little power that no cooling and minimal shielding are required; = zero-power adj.
   1. 1947

      > The ZEEP got its name from the initials of the words ‘zero energy experimental pile’.

      Bulletin of Atomic Scientists November 327/2
   2. 1981

      > Fast neutron fluence measurements in the core of a zero-energy research reactor.

      Nuclear Energy vol. 20 467
   3. 2014

      > For a zero energy or low energy reactor it should be designed from the outset so that it would be difficult to increase the neutron flux.

      Progress Nuclear Energy vol. 77 207/2
   nuclear physics
   1. zero-energy 1947–
      Designating a small nuclear reactor, built for research purposes, that develops so little power that no cooling and minimal shielding are required; =…
   2. zero-power 1950–
      Designating a small nuclear reactor, usually built for research purposes, that develops so little power that no cooling and minimal shielding are…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zero-energy typically occurs about 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zero-energy 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 zero-energy, adj., 1940–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1940 | 0.011
1950 | 0.012
1960 | 0.011
1970 | 0.012
1980 | 0.014
1990 | 0.014
2000 | 0.013
2010 | 0.013

Originally published as part of the entry for zero, n. & adj.

zero, n. & adj. was revised in June 2018.