zitinoun
Factsheet
What does the noun ziti mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun ziti. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun ziti?
| 1850 | 0.0004 |
| 1860 | 0.0003 |
| 1870 | 0.0006 |
| 1880 | 0.0006 |
| 1890 | 0.0006 |
| 1900 | 0.001 |
| 1910 | 0.0012 |
| 1920 | 0.0017 |
| 1930 | 0.002 |
| 1940 | 0.0025 |
| 1950 | 0.0056 |
| 1960 | 0.011 |
| 1970 | 0.016 |
| 1980 | 0.02 |
| 1990 | 0.023 |
| 2000 | 0.027 |
| 2010 | 0.033 |
How is the noun ziti pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun ziti come from?
Earliest known use
1840s
The earliest known use of the noun ziti is in the 1840s.
OED's earliest evidence for ziti is from 1845, in the writing of Eliza Acton, writer on cookery and poet.
ziti is a borrowing from Italian.
Etymons: Italian zita, zito.
Nearby entries
- zit cream, n.1968–
- zitella, n.a1660–
- zit-face, n.1974–
- zit-faced, adj.1971–
- zither, n.1831–
- zither, v.1889–
- zither banjo, n.1888–
- zithering, adj.1889–
- zitherist, n.1866–
- zither-like, adj.1881–
- ziti, n.1845–
- zitty, adj.1971–
- Ziv, n.a1382–
- zizania, n.1526–
- zizany, n.a1400–1803
- zizel, n.1775–
- zizypha, n.1546–1775
- zizyphus, n.?1440–
- zizz, v.1883–
- zizz, int. & n.1824–
- zizzing, n.1884–
Etymology
Summary
Notes
Meaning & use
- 1845–A variety of pasta in the form of short hollow tubes resembling large macaroni; a dish of this pasta, typically served baked in a tomato sauce.
- 1845
Zita—Naples maccaroni.
E. Acton, Modern Cookery (ed. 3) Vocab. of Terms p. xxx/2 - 1938
The manufacture of macaroni and similar products such as vermicelli, spaghetti, lasagna, ziti, pastina and paste all'uovo..in New York City..before 1914 was little more than a household industry.
Italians of New York (Federal Writers' Project) xi. 182 - 1962
Specials of the house include..baked ziti with mozzarella.
Montauk (New York) Pioneer Early July 11/1 - 1993
Use..dried tubular pasta for this hearty dish (pennette, penne, or ziti work well).
Cottage Life March 62/3 - 1998
There was some ziti but it all got eaten.
J. Manos & D. Chase, College (HBO TV shooting script) 52 in Sopranos 1st Series (OED Archive)
- macaroona1425–1753= macaroni, n. 1. Originally in plural. Obsolete.
- vermicellia1668–A kind of pasta made in the form of long, slender, hard threads, and used as an article of diet. Cf. macaroni, n. 1a.
- macaroni1673–A variety of pasta formed in short, narrow tubes, usually boiled and served with a sauce, esp. in Italian cookery; a dish consisting of this. (In…
- pipe macaroni1778–Macaroni made in the form of long tubes.
- spaghetti1845–A variety of pasta made in long thin strings. Occasionally, a dish of spaghetti.
- ziti1845–A variety of pasta in the form of short hollow tubes resembling large macaroni; a dish of this pasta, typically served baked in a tomato sauce.
- angel hair1890–A variety of pasta formed in long, fine threads; (also) a dish of this, typically served with a sauce or other accompaniment.
- mezzani1895–A kind of pasta in the form of medium-sized tubes; an Italian dish consisting mainly of this, usually with a sauce.
- pappardelle1899–A kind of pasta in the form of broad flat ribbons, similar to tagliatelle but wider, traditionally served with a meat (esp. game) sauce.
- mostaccioli1904–A variety of pasta in the shape of short, hollow tubes with diagonally cut ends; a dish consisting of this.
- perciatelli1906–A variety of pasta in the form of long hollow strands of larger diameter than spaghetti.
- rigatoni1911–Pasta in the form of short hollow fluted tubes; a dish consisting of this pasta and usually a sauce. Also occasionally with plural agreement.
- fettuccine1913–An Italian pasta made in strips or ribbons.
- orzo1917–A variety of pasta formed in small pieces shaped like grains of barley or rice.
- penne1919–A kind of pasta in the form of short hollow tubes cut diagonally at both ends; (also) a dish of this pasta, typically served with a sauce.
- linguine1920–A type of pasta in the form of long narrow ribbons; (also) a dish of this, typically served with a sauce or other accompaniment.
- fusilli1929–A variety of pasta in the form of (usually short) corkscrew-like spirals or twists.
- spag1948–= spaghetti, n. 1a.
- rotini1949–A variety of pasta in the form of small corkscrew-like spirals or twists and closely resembling fusilli.
- orecchiette1950–A variety of pasta formed into small ear-shaped pieces.
- spaghettini1953–A thin variety of spaghetti.
- rotelle1956–A variety of pasta made in the shape of small wagon-wheels. Also: a type of pasta in the form of short spirals or twists and resembling fusilli; = r…
- stelline1958–With plural agreement. Small, star-shaped pasta pieces.
- spaggers1960–= spaghetti, n. 1a.
- conchiglie1968–A variety of pasta made in the shape of conch shells.
- ruote1972–A variety of pasta formed in the shape of small wagon-wheels. Cf. rotelle, n.
- manicotti1983–Large tubular pasta shells (collectively); (also) a dish consisting of these, usually stuffed with cheese, tomatoes, meat, etc., and served with a…
- radiatore1986–A variety of pasta in the form of short chunks circled by rows of deep, rippled ridges; a dish of this, typically served with sauce.
Pronunciation
British English
U.S. English
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
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.
Consonants
- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye*
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing
* /d/ also represents a 'tapped' /t/ as in
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence
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.
View the pronunciation model here.
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
α.
- 1800s–zita
- 1900s–zite
β.
- 1900s–ziti, zito
Frequency
ziti typically occurs about 0.02 times per million words in modern written English.
ziti 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 of ziti, n., 1850–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1850 | 0.0004 |
| 1860 | 0.0003 |
| 1870 | 0.0006 |
| 1880 | 0.0006 |
| 1890 | 0.0006 |
| 1900 | 0.001 |
| 1910 | 0.0012 |
| 1920 | 0.0017 |
| 1930 | 0.002 |
| 1940 | 0.0025 |
| 1950 | 0.0056 |
| 1960 | 0.011 |
| 1970 | 0.016 |
| 1980 | 0.02 |
| 1990 | 0.023 |
| 2000 | 0.027 |
| 2010 | 0.033 |
Frequency of ziti, n., 2017–2024
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Modern frequency series are derived from a corpus of 20 billion words, covering the period from 2017 to the present. The corpus is mainly compiled from online news sources, and covers all major varieties of World English.
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 corpus.
| Period | Frequency per million words |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 0.025 |
| 2018 | 0.024 |
| 2019 | 0.022 |
| 2020 | 0.023 |
| 2021 | 0.02 |
| 2022 | 0.021 |
| 2023 | 0.021 |
| 2024 | 0.023 |