Zamaknoun
Factsheet
What does the noun Zamak mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun Zamak. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun Zamak?
| 1920 | 0.014 |
| 1930 | 0.013 |
| 1940 | 0.011 |
| 1950 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 0.011 |
| 1970 | 0.0083 |
| 1980 | 0.006 |
| 1990 | 0.0038 |
| 2000 | 0.0027 |
| 2010 | 0.0026 |
How is the noun Zamak pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun Zamak come from?
Earliest known use
1920s
The earliest known use of the noun Zamak is in the 1920s.
OED's earliest evidence for Zamak is from 1926, in Official Gazette.
Zamak is formed within English, by compounding.
Etymons: zinc n., aluminium n., magnesium n., English ‑ak.
Nearby entries
- Zairean, n. & adj.1972–
- Zairese, adj. & n.1974–
- Zairois, n. & adj.1973–
- zaitech, n.1986–
- zakat, n.1668–
- Zakka Khel, n.1860–
- zakuska, n.1885–
- zalambdodont, adj.1885–
- zalcitabine, n.1991–
- zamacueca, n.1855–
- Zamak, n.1926–
- zamang, n.1819–
- zamarra, n.1841–
- zama zama, n.2006–
- Zamazim, n.a1400–
- Zambian, adj. & n.1959–
- Zambianization, n.1964–
- Zambianize, v.1964–
- zambo, n.1819–
- Zamboni, n.1965–
- zambra, n.1672–
Etymology
Summary
Notes
Meaning & use
- 1926–Any of a series of alloys of high-purity zinc with aluminium and copper, typically used in die-casting. Cf. Mazak n.
- 1926
The New Jersey Zinc Company... Zamak... Zinc-base alloy.
Official Gazette (U.S. Patent Office) 24 August 756/1 - 1930
The alloy preferably employed is a zinc base alloy, known in the trade as ‘Zamak’.
U.S. Patent 1,777,320 4/1 - 1951
Jet-power professional nozzle... Precision made from light-weight, rust-proof Zamac alloy.
Popular Mechanics June 38/1 (advertisement) - 1974
Zinc prices lifted... The new prices are 40 cents per 1lb for prime western zinc..and 44.5 cents for Zamak No 3 alloy.
Times 12 June 24/7 - 2005
Zamak 3's combination of low elasticity and high density inhibits sound vibration and transmission in motor housing used in a vacuum cleaner.
Appliance Design (Nexis) 1 March 30
society occupation and work materials derived or manufactured material metal alloy [nouns] other alloys of copper and zinc- yellow metala1535–a. (Often with the) gold; b. any of various yellow-coloured non-ferrous alloys; spec. an alloy of copper and zinc used for sheathing the hulls of…
- white brass1538–Brass of a silvery colour; (in later use) spec. brass containing a large proportion of zinc.
- tombac1606–Any of various gold-coloured copper alloys typically containing from 82 to 99 per cent copper, the rest usually being made up largely or entirely of…
- Prince's metal1682–An alloy, resembling brass, consisting of about three parts copper and one part zinc, used esp. for cheap jewellery. Cf. Prince Rupert's metal n. at…
- Bath-metal1714–An alloy, consisting of 3 or 4 oz. of zinc to one pound of copper (Ure).
- pinchbeck1734–An alloy containing a high proportion of copper and a low proportion of zinc which is used chiefly in making cheap jewellery, on account of its…
- button metal1786–1921Any of various alloys (typically containing copper and zinc) used in the manufacture of buttons.
- Prince Rupert's metal1789–1877= Prince's metal, n. Obsolete.
- platina1790–An alloy of copper and zinc formerly used for making buttons.
- oroide1869–An alloy of copper and zinc having the colour of gold. Cf. oreide, n.
- Zamak1926–Any of a series of alloys of high-purity zinc with aluminium and copper, typically used in die-casting. Cf. Mazak, n.
Pronunciation
British English
U.S. English
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
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
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.
- 1900s–zamac, zamak
2. Also with lower-case initial.
Frequency
Zamak typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
Zamak 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 of Zamak, n., 1920–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1920 | 0.014 |
| 1930 | 0.013 |
| 1940 | 0.011 |
| 1950 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 0.011 |
| 1970 | 0.0083 |
| 1980 | 0.006 |
| 1990 | 0.0038 |
| 2000 | 0.0027 |
| 2010 | 0.0026 |