zazen, n.

zazen
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zazen_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2021

# zazennoun

## Earlier version

- zazen in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zazen mean?

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

### How common is the noun zazen?

About 0.2occurrences per million words in modern written English

1880 | 0.0005
1890 | 0.0009
1900 | 0.0024
1910 | 0.0031
1920 | 0.0036
1930 | 0.0059
1940 | 0.016
1950 | 0.051
1960 | 0.09
1970 | 0.13
1980 | 0.16
1990 | 0.18
2000 | 0.18
2010 | 0.17

### How is the noun zazen pronounced?

#### British English

/zɑːˈzɛn/
zah-ZEN
/ˈzɑːz(ɛ)n/
ZAH-zen

#### U.S. English

/zɑˈzɛn/
zah-ZEN
/ˈzɑˌzɛn/
ZAH-zen

### Where does the noun zazen come from?

Earliest known use

early 1700s

The earliest known use of the noun zazen is in the early 1700s.

OED's earliest evidence for zazen is from 1727, in a translation by John Scheuchzer, physician and naturalist.

zazen is a borrowing from Japanese.

Etymons: Japanese zazen.

### Nearby entries

1. zariba, v. 1885–
2. zarnich, n. 1612–
3. Zarp, n. 1895–
4. zarzuela, n. 1888–
5. zat, n. 1934–
6. zatch, n. 1950–
7. zawiya, n. 1836–
8. zawn, n. 1865–
9. zayat, n. 1823–
10. zayde, n. 1946–
11. zazen, n.1727–
12. zazzy, adj. 1961–
13. Z band, n. 1950–
14. ZBB, n. 1976–
15. Z-bed, n. 1973–
16. Z-car, n. 1961–
17. Z-day, n. 1925–
18. Z-DNA, n. 1979–
19. ze, pron. 1864–
20. zea, n. 1562–
21. zeagonite, n. 1823–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Japanese.
Etymon: Japanese zazen.
< Japanese zazen (8th cent., originally denoting sitting meditation in general, in later use also specifically with reference to Zen Buddhism) < Middle Chinese (compare Chinese zuò chán, literally…
< Japanese zazen (8th cent., originally denoting sitting meditation in general, in later use also specifically with reference to Zen Buddhism) < Middle Chinese (compare Chinese zuò chán, literally ‘sitting meditation’ (2nd cent. in Old Chinese)).

Compare Zen n.

### Notes

In the form sasen (only in the source of quot. 1727), the letter s is apparently intended to represent the voiced /z/ of the Japanese word, according to the German spelling conventions used in the passage translated.

## Meaning & use

rare before late 19th cent.

1. 1727–
   In Zen Buddhism: the practice of sitting meditation.
   1. 1727

      > Sasen [German Sasen] is a profound meditation of divine misteries and holy things, which so entirely takes up a man's mind, that his body lies, as it were, destitute of all sense and life, unmov'd by any external object whatsoever.

      J. G. Scheuchzer, translation of E. Kæmpfer, History of Japan vol. I. iv. iv. 308
   2. 1897

      > How can you think of not-thinking? That is thinking of nothing. This is the most important art of Zazen.

      Princ., Pract. & Enlightenment Soto Sect 22
   3. 1907

      > Zazen is not meant to induce a trance or a state of self-hypnotization.

      Journal Pali Text Soc. 1906–7 36
   4. 1983

      > He had taken to practising what he hoped was zazen in the yard.

      M. Furlong, Cousins xxi. 167
   5. 2014

      > Breath counting is a standard practice in many forms of meditation and is often used in the Zen Buddhist practice of Zazen.

      J. B. Ford, Auto Process Therapy iv. 37
   Buddhism
   1. vipassana 1688–
      Esp. in Theravada Buddhism: a form of meditation practised with the intention of achieving direct personal insight into the truth of Buddhist…
   2. zazen 1727–
      In Zen Buddhism: the practice of sitting meditation.
   3. samatha 1863–
      A form of meditation practised with the intention of achieving mental tranquillity; the state of tranquillity achieved by this. Contrasted with vip…
   4. vipashyana 1863–
      A form of meditation practised with the intention of achieving direct personal insight into the truth of Buddhist teachings; the insight achieved…
   5. sitting meditation 1906–
      (Originally in Zen Buddhism) meditation practised while seated, typically on the floor in a cross-legged position with the back straight; (also) an…
   6. sitting 1913–
      A period of time spent meditating while seated, typically on the floor in a cross-legged position with the back straight. Also: an event in which…
   7. sesshin 1922–
      In Zen Buddhism: an extended period (typically several days) of intensive meditation and practice; (now spec.) a meditation retreat.
   8. kinhin 1954–
      Chiefly in Zen Buddhism: the practice of walking meditation, esp. between periods of zazen or sitting meditation; (also) an instance of this. Cf. wal…
   9. walking meditation 1961–
      (Originally) any period of contemplation or reflection engaged in while walking; (later, chiefly in Zen Buddhism) meditation practised while…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zɑːˈzɛn/
zah-ZEN
/ˈzɑːz(ɛ)n/
ZAH-zen

### U.S. English

/zɑˈzɛn/
zah-ZEN
/ˈzɑˌzɛn/
ZAH-zen

####

##### 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.

####

##### 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 /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.

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

1. 1700s
   sasen
2. 1800s–
   zazen
3. 1900s
   zasen
4. 1900s–
   za-zen

## Frequency

zazen typically occurs about 0.2 times per million words in modern written English.

zazen is in frequency band 4, which contains words occurring between 0.1 and 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 zazen, n., 1880–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1880 | 0.0005
1890 | 0.0009
1900 | 0.0024
1910 | 0.0031
1920 | 0.0036
1930 | 0.0059
1940 | 0.016
1950 | 0.051
1960 | 0.09
1970 | 0.13
1980 | 0.16
1990 | 0.18
2000 | 0.18
2010 | 0.17

## Compounds & derived words

1. 1727–
   General use as a modifier, as in zazen meditation, zazen practice.
   1. 1727

      > It being customary amongst al the Sasen Priests [German Sasen Pfaffen], to carry something of this nature about them.

      J. G. Scheuchzer, translation of E. Kæmpfer, History of Japan vol. I. iv. iv. 308
   2. 1912

      > At Kamakura is the Kenchoji, the Engakuji, and the Jochiji, where any one may be put through Zasen practice by complying with the usual requirements.

      Japan Magazine August 259/2
   3. 1973

      > Three hours of daily zazen meditation.

      A. Broinowski, Take One Ambassador viii. 108
   4. 2003

      > She was able to get back in touch with the core of her zazen meditation and found that its reawakening served her well.

      B. Wagner, Still Holding v. 336

zazen, n. was revised in December 2021.

zazen, n. was last modified in December 2024.