zurr, n.

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

# zurrnoun

## Earlier version

- zur in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zurr mean?

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

This word is used in south-western English regional dialect.

#### 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 zurr?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1840 | 0.001
1850 | 0.0008
1860 | 0.0007
1870 | 0.0008
1880 | 0.0009
1890 | 0.0012
1900 | 0.0014
1910 | 0.0016
1920 | 0.0022
1930 | 0.0022
1940 | 0.0022
1950 | 0.0021
1960 | 0.0017
1970 | 0.0016
1980 | 0.0017
1990 | 0.0013
2000 | 0.0014
2010 | 0.0016

### How is the noun zurr pronounced?

#### British English

/zəː/
zur

#### U.S. English

/zər/
zurr

### Where does the noun zurr come from?

Earliest known use

1800s

The earliest known use of the noun zurr is in the 1800s.

OED's earliest evidence for zurr is from 1803, in the writing of George Colman, playwright and theatre manager.

zurr is a variant or alteration of another lexical item.

Etymons: sir n.

### Nearby entries

1. zumbi, n. 1704–
2. zumboorukchee, n. 1840–
3. Zuñi, n. 1834–
4. zunyite, n. 1885–
5. zuppa, n. 1961–
6. Zurich, n. 1870–
7. Zuricher, n. 1673–
8. zurla, n. 1940–
9. zurlite, n. 1826–
10. zurna, n. 1870–
11. zurr, n.1803–
12. zussmanite, n. 1965–
13. zut, int. 1915–
14. zuur-veldt, n. 1785–
15. zuz, n. 1688–
16. zwanziger, n. 1828–
17. Zweig, n. 1973–
18. zwieback, n. 1894–
19. zwieselite, n. 1861–
20. Zwinglian, n. & adj. 1532–
21. Zwinglianism, n. 1581–

## Etymology

### Summary

A variant or alteration of another lexical item.
Variant of sir n.

## Meaning & use

English regional (chiefly south-western).

1. 1803–
   = sir n.
   1. 1803

      > Dan. I be ready, zur.

      G. Colman, John Bull i. i. 16
   2. 1825

      > I bag ye, zur, to take en vooäth.

      J. Jennings, Observations Dialects W. England 118
   3. 1838

      > ‘Woy, yes, Zur,’ said a waggon-driver, with a short smock-frock... ‘That's how it is, Zur.’

      J. Grant, Sketches in London ix. 292
   4. 1921

      > Beg pardon, zur, but can't abide here while they be a-reapin'.

      H. Williamson, Beautiful Years 117
   5. 1977

      > A-ben sleepen in m'bed, zurr, 'tel cock d'crow for dawnen.

      F. Parrish, Fire in Barley iii. 30
   English regional (south-western)
   1. goodman Old English–
      Used as a respectful form of address, typically between equals. Chiefly Scottish after Middle English. Now rare.
   2. lief Old English–1400
      absol. (When used in addressing a superior = Sir! Sire! Lord!) Obsolete.
   3. beausire c1300–1540
      Fair sir, a form of address.
   4. sir 1320–
      Used as a respectful term of address to a superior or, in later use, an equal (sometimes with additions as dear, †fair, †gentle, good); also by…
   5. lede 1377–1488
      As a form of address.
   6. fatherhood 1461–1682
      With possessive adjective, as your fatherhood. As a title of respect or respectful form of address for one's father or (in extended use) for a…
   7. gallant 1490–
      Used (esp. in plural) as a respectful form of address: gentleman, fine fellow. archaic after 18th cent.
   8. fatherhead?a1500–58
      With possessive adjective, as your fatherhead. As a title of respect or respectful form of address for one's father or (in extended use) for a man…
   9. Mr?a1640–
      Without proper name. Used in direct speech as a form of polite address to a man, esp. one whose name is not known and who is regarded by the…
   10. gallantissimo 1675–81
       A fine gentlemen; a gallant. Also as a form of address.
   11. mister 1734–
       Used without proper name as a form of address to a man whose name is not known; = sir, n. (but usually less respectful than that title).
   12. massa 1766–
       Master. Chiefly in representations of African American, Caribbean, and Australian Aboriginal speech. Also as a respectful form of address. Cf. Mas'… In later use typically highlighting offensive stereotypes or depictions of black people behaving in a servile manner, with reference to the era of slavery.
   13. sieur 1772–
       Used as a courtesy title or form of address.
   14. stir a1796–1816
       = sir, n. II.7a.
   15. master 1798
       Used vocatively as a term of respect or politeness, or in substitution for the name of a man usually addressed as ‘master’. In singular. Sir, Mister.
   16. zurr 1803–
       = sir, n.
   17. sieur 1812–
       A respectful form of address or reference to a superior; master, ‘sir’.
   18. squire 1828–
       As a term of polite address to a gentleman not formally a squire. More recently, a jocular or familiar address to another man, not necessarily of…
   19. guv'nor 1843–
       A man in a position of authority or seniority; esp. a person's immediate superior; a boss. Also as a form of address. Cf. governor, n. 7.
   20. Mistah 1853–
       Mister. Usually prefixed to a name.
   21. suh 1860–
       = sir, n. II (in various senses). Often in representations of African American speech. Sometimes used to highlight offensive stereotypes or depictions of black people behaving in a servile manner (see e.g. quot. 1992 and cf. yassuh, adv.).
   22. Guv 1866–
       = guv'nor, n. 2.
   23. sor 1891–
       = sir, n. II.7a.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zəː/
zur

### U.S. English

/zər/
zurr

####

##### 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

Also

1. zur

## Frequency

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

zurr 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 zurr, n., 1840–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1840 | 0.001
1850 | 0.0008
1860 | 0.0007
1870 | 0.0008
1880 | 0.0009
1890 | 0.0012
1900 | 0.0014
1910 | 0.0016
1920 | 0.0022
1930 | 0.0022
1940 | 0.0022
1950 | 0.0021
1960 | 0.0017
1970 | 0.0016
1980 | 0.0017
1990 | 0.0013
2000 | 0.0014
2010 | 0.0016

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

zurr, n. was last modified in June 2024.