Zengakuren, n.

zengakuren
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zengakuren_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# Zengakurennoun

## Earlier version

- Zengakuren in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun Zengakuren mean?

There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun Zengakuren. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the noun Zengakuren?

About 0.03occurrences per million words in modern written English

1950 | 0.062
1960 | 0.053
1970 | 0.046
1980 | 0.04
1990 | 0.042
2000 | 0.025
2010 | 0.013

### How is the noun Zengakuren pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɛnɡakᵿˌrɛn/
ZEN-gack-uh-ren

#### U.S. English

/ˈzɛnˌɡɑkʊˌrɛn/
ZEN-gah-koor-en

### Where does the noun Zengakuren come from?

Earliest known use

1950s

The earliest known use of the noun Zengakuren is in the 1950s.

OED's earliest evidence for Zengakuren is from 1950, in New York Times.

Zengakuren is a borrowing from Japanese.

Etymons: Japanese Zengakuren.

### Nearby entries

1. Zend-Avestan, adj. & n. 1871–
2. Zend-Avestic, adj. 1864–
3. Zendic, n. & adj. 1771–
4. Zendician, n. a1833–66
5. Zendicism, n. 1697–
6. Zendish, adj. & n. 1802–1921
7. Zendist, n. 1877–1907
8. zendo, n. 1914–
9. Zener, n.¹ 1934–
10. Zener, n.² 1949–
11. Zengakuren, n.1950–
12. Zen garden, n. 1937–
13. zenick, n. 1801–1900
14. zenitfer, n. 1596–
15. zenith, n. & adj. a1387–
16. zenithal, adj.?1731–
17. zenithal projection, n. 1877–
18. zenith-borne, adj. 1865–86
19. zenith distance, n. 1588–
20. zenith line, n. 1585–
21. zenith point, n. 1585–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Japanese.
Etymon: Japanese Zengakuren.
< Japanese Zengakuren (1950 or earlier), acronym < the elements represented by three kanji in Zen Nihon Gakusei Jichikai Sō Rengō, lit. ‘All-Japan Federation of Student Self-Government Associations’…
< Japanese Zengakuren (1950 or earlier), acronym < the elements represented by three kanji in Zen Nihon Gakusei Jichikai Sō Rengō, lit. ‘All-Japan Federation of Student Self-Government Associations’ (1948).

### Notes

Japanese Zengakuren was originally the name of a particular organization formed in 1948, but was also soon used by similar organizations and became a word for the movement more widely.

## Meaning & use

1. I.
   Compounds
   1. I.1.
      1950–
      attributive. Designating a radical left-wing student movement in Japan, particularly active during the 1950s and 1960s. Also: of or relating to this movement.
      1. 1950

         > The Zengakuren organization.

         New York Times 19 May 7/2
      2. 1952

         > On May 23, [1950] at a Zengakuren convention.

         E. S. Colbert, Left Wing in Japanese Politics v. 300
      3. 1967

         > The large Zengakuren ideas and practical accomplishments.

         D. Riesman & E. T. Riesman, Conversations in Japan 121
      4. 1988

         > Helmets and wooden staves like those used by Japan's militant Zengakuren students in their frequent confrontations with police.

         Grit (Williamsport, Pennsylvania) 17 July 5/1
      5. 2010

         > A Japanese radical leftist group Zengakuren member with a ‘Smash APEC’ bib.

         Orange (Texas) Leader 14 November 5a(caption)
      politics
      1. white flag 1947–
         With capital initials. General attributive, designating the principal communist party of Burma (Myanmar). Now historical.
      2. Zengakuren 1950–
         attributive. Designating a radical left-wing student movement in Japan, particularly active during the 1950s and 1960s. Also: of or relating to…
      3. Viet Cong 1961–
         Of or pertaining to (the members of) this movement.
      View in Historical Thesaurus
2. II.
   Simple uses.
   1. II.2.
      1962–
      A member of a Japanese Zengakuren group; (also) members of the Zengakuren movement considered collectively.
      1. 1962

         > By noon each day the black-uniformed ranks of Zengakuren were on the move.

         J. Cary, Japan Today xii. 155
      2. 1987

         > A Zengakuren from the fifties who committed suicide after being accused by the C[ommunist] P[arty] faction of helping an informer escape.

         M. Turim in Journal Film & Video vol. 39 50/1
      3. 2007

         > Yoshida was a Zengakuren in the seventies. He was the head of the riots in Tokyo.

         A. Swofford, Exit A (2008) 92
      politics
      1. shogunite 1890–
         A partisan of the shogunate.
      2. Thakin 1942–
         A member of a militant nationalist movement that arose in Burma during the 1930s; also attributive.
      3. Zengakuren 1962–
         A member of a Japanese Zengakuren group; (also) members of the Zengakuren movement considered collectively.
      4. sparrows 1983–
         plural. (Usually with capital initial.) In the Philippines, the members of a sparrow unit (see sense compounds C.2a); a sparrow squad.
      View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɛnɡakᵿˌrɛn/
ZEN-gack-uh-ren

### U.S. English

/ˈzɛnˌɡɑkʊˌrɛn/
ZEN-gah-koor-en

####

##### 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

### Inflections

Plural: unchanged

### Variant forms

Also with lower-case initial.

## Frequency

Zengakuren typically occurs about 0.03 times per million words in modern written English.

Zengakuren 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 Zengakuren, n., 1950–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1950 | 0.062
1960 | 0.053
1970 | 0.046
1980 | 0.04
1990 | 0.042
2000 | 0.025
2010 | 0.013

Zengakuren, n. was revised in June 2018.

Zengakuren, n. was last modified in June 2025.