zafu, n.

zafu
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zafu_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 2021

# zafunoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zafu mean?

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

### How common is the noun zafu?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1960 | 0.0037
1970 | 0.0049
1980 | 0.0056
1990 | 0.0056
2000 | 0.0068
2010 | 0.0077

### How is the noun zafu pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɑːfuː/
ZAH-foo
/ˈzafuː/
ZAFF-oo

#### U.S. English

/ˈzɑˌfu/
ZAH-foo
/ˈzæˌfu/
ZAFF-oo

### Where does the noun zafu come from?

Earliest known use

1960s

The earliest known use of the noun zafu is in the 1960s.

OED's earliest evidence for zafu is from 1965, in East (Tokyo).

zafu is a borrowing from Japanese.

Etymons: Japanese zafu.

### Nearby entries

1. zabernize, v. 1914
2. zabra, n. 1523–
3. zabuton, n. 1879–
4. zac, n. 1898–
5. 'zackly | 'zactly, adv. 1886–
6. zad, n. 1669–
7. Zadokite, n. & adj. 1910–
8. zadruga, n. 1887–
9. zaffre | zaffer, n. 1662–
10. zaftig, adj. 1921–
11. zafu, n.1965–
12. zag, n., adv., & v. 1793–
13. zagaie | zagaye, n. 1590–1698
14. Zaghlulist, n. & adj. 1921–
15. zaguan, n. 1851–
16. Zahal, n. 1959–
17. zaibatsu, n. 1937–
18. Zaidi, n. 1709–
19. zaikai, n. 1968–
20. zaim, n. 1807–
21. zaire, n. 1967–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Japanese.
Etymon: Japanese zafu.
< Japanese zafu kind of small floor cushion to sit on (19th cent. or earlier) < za seat (< Middle Chinese; compare Chinese zuò: see zazen n.) + ‑fu, ‑bu, literally ‘reedmace’ (< Middle Chinese), but in…
< Japanese zafu kind of small floor cushion to sit on (19th cent. or earlier) < za seat (< Middle Chinese; compare Chinese zuò: see zazen n.) + ‑fu, ‑bu, literally ‘reedmace’ (< Middle Chinese), but in Japanese probably short for futon kind of mattress or cushion, zafu, zabuton (originally made from reedmace: see futon n.).

Compare earlier zabuton n. and futon n.

### Notes

Japanese zafu is apparently rare outside Zen contexts and may be much older than the 19th cent., probably predating the better attested zabuton zabuton n.

## Meaning & use

1. 1965–
   Esp. in Zen Buddhism: a round or (occasionally) crescent-shaped cushion used in seated meditation.
   A zafu is often placed on top of a zabuton (see zabuton n.).
   1. 1965

      > His bundle..contained..a zafu (cushion to sit on while in meditation).

      East (Tokyo) vol. 1 8/2
   2. 1989

      > Zafus, microcrystals, singing bowls,..inspirational books and tapes.

      San Francisco Bay Guardian 22 November 10/1 (advertisement)
   3. 2008

      > I don't have to tell you how hard it is..sitting on your zafu hour after hour after hour.

      S. Dunlap, Single Eye xxi. 187
   Buddhism
   1. zafu 1965–
      Esp. in Zen Buddhism: a round or (occasionally) crescent-shaped cushion used in seated meditation.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɑːfuː/
ZAH-foo
/ˈzafuː/
ZAFF-oo

### U.S. English

/ˈzɑˌfu/
ZAH-foo
/ˈzæˌfu/
ZAFF-oo

####

##### 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

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

zafu 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 zafu, n., 1960–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1960 | 0.0037
1970 | 0.0049
1980 | 0.0056
1990 | 0.0056
2000 | 0.0068
2010 | 0.0077

zafu, n. was first published in December 2021.

zafu, n. was last modified in July 2023.