zopilote, n.

zopilote
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zopilote_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1921; not fully revised

# zopilotenoun

## Earlier version

- zopilote in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zopilote mean?

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

#### 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 zopilote?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1810 | 0.0054
1820 | 0.0071
1830 | 0.0086
1840 | 0.0085
1850 | 0.0096
1860 | 0.011
1870 | 0.012
1880 | 0.011
1890 | 0.011
1900 | 0.011
1910 | 0.014
1920 | 0.014
1930 | 0.013
1940 | 0.013
1950 | 0.013
1960 | 0.012
1970 | 0.01
1980 | 0.0082
1990 | 0.0079
2000 | 0.0077
2010 | 0.0072

### How is the noun zopilote pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzəʊpɪləʊt/

### Where does the noun zopilote come from?

Earliest known use

late 1700s

The earliest known use of the noun zopilote is in the late 1700s.

OED's earliest evidence for zopilote is from 1787, in a translation by C. Cullen.

zopilote is a borrowing from Spanish.

### Nearby entries

1. zootype, n. 1883–
2. zootypic, adj. 1853–
3. zoowoman, n. 1930–
4. zooxanthella, n. 1882–
5. zooxanthellate, adj. & n. 1981–
6. zooxanthin, n. 1868–
7. zoozygosphere, n. 1880–
8. zope, n. 1880–
9. zophoric, adj. 1728–
10. zophorus | zoophorus, n. 1563–
11. zopilote, n.1787–
12. zopissa, n. 1601–
13. zoppa, adj. 1740–
14. Zoque, n. 1891–
15. Zoque–Mixe, adj. & n. 1893–
16. Zorb, n. 1996–
17. zorbing, n. 1996–
18. zorgite, n. 1852–
19. zori, n.?1823–
20. zoril, n. 1774–
21. Zoroastrian, adj. & n. 1597–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Spanish.
Spanish, < Mexican azopilotl.

## Meaning & use

1. 1787–
   A vulture of the family Cathartidæ, esp. the American carrion vulture or turkey-buzzard, Cathartes aura.
   1. 1787

      > The Zopilots, known in South America by the name of Gallinazzi;..There are two very different species..; the one, the Zopilote properly so called, the other called the Cozcaquauhtli.

      C. Cullen, translation of F. S. Clavigero, History of Mexico vol. I. 47
   2. 1850

      > The Eagle's cliff was black with zopilotes.

      M. Reid, Rifle Rangers vol. II. xxx. 278
   3. 1860

      > When in search of food, the Zopilote ascends to a vast height in the air.

      J. G. Wood, Illustrated Natural History (1862) vol. II. 17
   birds
   1. zopilote 1787–
      A vulture of the family Cathartidæ, esp. the American carrion vulture or turkey-buzzard, Cathartes aura.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. turkey-buzzard 1672–
      An American carrion vulture, Cathartes aura, so called from its bare reddish head and neck and dark plumage; the John Crow of Jamaica; also figurative…
   2. gallinazo 1772–
      An American vulture (Cathartes aura or Catharista atrata).
   3. zopilote 1787–
      A vulture of the family Cathartidæ, esp. the American carrion vulture or turkey-buzzard, Cathartes aura.
   4. John Crow a1818–
      The turkey vulture, Cathartes aura.
   5. turkey vulture 1823–
      = turkey-buzzard, n.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzəʊpɪləʊt/

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

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.

View the pronunciation model here.

## Forms

### Variant forms

Also zopilot.

## Frequency

zopilote typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zopilote is in frequency band 2, which contains words occurring between 0.001 and 0.01 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 zopilote, n., 1810–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1810 | 0.0054
1820 | 0.0071
1830 | 0.0086
1840 | 0.0085
1850 | 0.0096
1860 | 0.011
1870 | 0.012
1880 | 0.011
1890 | 0.011
1900 | 0.011
1910 | 0.014
1920 | 0.014
1930 | 0.013
1940 | 0.013
1950 | 0.013
1960 | 0.012
1970 | 0.01
1980 | 0.0082
1990 | 0.0079
2000 | 0.0077
2010 | 0.0072

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

zopilote, n. was last modified in December 2024.