zirkelite, n.

zirkelite
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zirkelite_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2021

# zirkelitenoun

## Earlier version

- zirkelite in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zirkelite mean?

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

### How common is the noun zirkelite?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1890 | 0.0007
1900 | 0.0008
1910 | 0.0008
1920 | 0.0009
1930 | 0.0011
1940 | 0.0012
1950 | 0.0012
1960 | 0.0011
1970 | 0.0009
1980 | 0.0008
1990 | 0.0007
2000 | 0.0006
2010 | 0.0006

### How is the noun zirkelite pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzəːkəlʌɪt/
ZUR-kuh-light

#### U.S. English

/ˈzərkəˌlaɪt/
ZURR-kuh-light

### Where does the noun zirkelite come from?

Earliest known use

1890s

The earliest known use of the noun zirkelite is in the 1890s.

OED's earliest evidence for zirkelite is from 1895, in Nature: a weekly journal of science.

From a proper name, combined with an English element.

Etymons: proper name Zirkel, ‑ite suffix1.

### Nearby entries

1. zirconian, adj. 1802–
2. zirconic, adj. 1804–
3. zirconite, n. 1806–
4. zirconitic, adj. 1883–
5. zirconium, n. 1808–
6. zircon-like, adj. 1857–
7. zircono-, comb. form
8. zirconolite, n. 1957–
9. zircon-syenite, n. 1813–
10. zirconyl, n. 1887–
11. zirkelite, n.1895–
12. zit, n. 1912–
13. zit cream, n. 1968–
14. zitella, n. a1660–
15. zit-face, n. 1974–
16. zit-faced, adj. 1971–
17. zither, n. 1831–
18. zither, v. 1889–
19. zither banjo, n. 1888–
20. zithering, adj. 1889–
21. zitherist, n. 1866–

## Etymology

### Summary

From a proper name, combined with an English element.
Etymons: proper name Zirkel, ‑ite suffix1.
< the name of Ferdinand Zirkel (1838–1912), German mineralogist + ‑ite suffix1.

## Meaning & use

Mineralogy.

1. 1895–
   A black or dark brown mineral which is a mixed oxide of zirconium, calcium, titanium, thorium, and other elements, occurring as small prisms or, more commonly, in amorphous form.
   Chemical formula: (Ca,Th,Ce)Zr(Ti,Nb)2O7. Crystal system: cubic.
   Very similar to zirconolite n. and not always distinguished from it: see note at that entry.
   1. 1895

      > Mineralogical Society, June 18.—Lewisite and Zirkelite, two new Brazilian minerals, by Dr. E. Hussak, of the Geological Survey of São Paulo, and Mr. G. T. Prior.

      Nature 18 July 287/2
   2. 1895

      > Zirkelite. A new calcium zirconate and titanate.

      E. Hussak & G. T. Prior in Mineralogy Magazine vol. 11 86
   3. 1962

      > Zirkelite is widely distributed in the Palaeozoic ultrabasic and alkaline complexes of the Kola Peninsula where it occurs as an accessory mineral in calcite-amphibole rocks.

      Mineralogical Abstracts vol. 15 538/1
   4. 2011

      > Zirconolite or zirkelite is a relatively rare mineral, usually with monoclinic structure and simplified formula CaZrTi2O7.

      B. E. Burakov et al., Crystalline Materials Actinide Immobilisation i. 41
   minerals
   1. beudantite 1826–
      A mineral occurring in modified acute rhombohedrons, containing sesquioxide of iron and oxide of lead, with phosphoric or arsenic acid, or both…
   2. thrombolite 1844–
      Mineralogy. A copper mineral found in amorphous green masses, now known to be a mixture consisting mainly of pseudomalachite. Now rare or disused.
   3. corkite 1875–
      A synonym of beudantite, n.
   4. zirkelite 1895–
      A black or dark brown mineral which is a mixed oxide of zirconium, calcium, titanium, thorium, and other elements, occurring as small prisms or…
   5. russellite 1938–
      A rare mineral consisting of bismuth tungstate, occurring as pale yellow or green fine-grained masses.
   6. zirconolite 1957–
      Any of a group of very similar minerals which consist of mixed oxides of calcium, zirconium, and titanium, and occur as small black or brown…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzəːkəlʌɪt/
ZUR-kuh-light

### U.S. English

/ˈzərkəˌlaɪt/
ZURR-kuh-light

####

##### 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

## Frequency

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

zirkelite is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 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 zirkelite, n., 1890–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1890 | 0.0007
1900 | 0.0008
1910 | 0.0008
1920 | 0.0009
1930 | 0.0011
1940 | 0.0012
1950 | 0.0012
1960 | 0.0011
1970 | 0.0009
1980 | 0.0008
1990 | 0.0007
2000 | 0.0006
2010 | 0.0006

zirkelite, n. was revised in March 2021.

zirkelite, n. was last modified in July 2023.