zoonverb
Factsheet
What does the verb zoon mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the verb zoon. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
This word is used in midland U.S. English and southern U.S. English.
How common is the verb zoon?
| 1880 | 0.025 |
| 1890 | 0.024 |
| 1900 | 0.025 |
| 1910 | 0.024 |
| 1920 | 0.023 |
| 1930 | 0.022 |
| 1940 | 0.023 |
| 1950 | 0.023 |
| 1960 | 0.023 |
| 1970 | 0.023 |
| 1980 | 0.024 |
| 1990 | 0.023 |
| 2000 | 0.023 |
| 2010 | 0.023 |
How is the verb zoon pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the verb zoon come from?
Earliest known use
1880s
The earliest known use of the verb zoon is in the 1880s.
OED's earliest evidence for zoon is from 1880, in Notes and Queries.
It is also recorded as an exclamation from the 1860s.
zoon is an imitative or expressive formation.
Nearby entries
- zoomorph, n.1883–
- zoomorphic, adj.1849–
- zoomorphism, n.1822–
- zoomorphize, v.1940–
- zoomorphizing, n.1895–
- zoomorphosed, adj.1955–
- zoom shot, n.1930–
- zoomy, adj.1931–
- zoomythic, adj.1889–
- zoon, n.1851–1905
- zoon, v.1880–
- zoon, int.1863–
- -zoon, comb. form
- zoonate, n.1798–1857
- zoonerythrin, n.1882–
- zoonic, adj.1798–1853
- zooning, n.1885–
- Zoonist, adj.1890–97
- zoonite, n.1838–
- zoonitic, adj.1860–91
- zoonomic, adj.1836–
Etymology
Meaning & use
- 1880–intransitive. To make a humming, buzzing, or droning sound; to move with, or as if with, such a sound; to move quickly. Also occasionally transitive: to cause to move with such a sound; to propel quickly. Cf. zoom v.1 1
- 1880
‘A-zoonin.’—I find this word used by negroes in Georgia to express the humming of bees, as ‘de bees is a-zoonin’.
Notes & Queries 18 December 488/1 - 1883
Bimeby Brer Rabbit year de skeeters come zoonin' ‘roun’, en claimin' kin wid 'im.
J. C. Harris, Nights with Uncle Remus xxxvii. 224 - 1893
A man, horse, locomotive, or almost anything that goes along swiftly, is said to zune.
H. A. Shands, Some Peculiarities of Speech in Mississippi 69 - 1896
I hear a horsefly zooning around.
Sunday Inter Ocean (Chicago) 16 February 29/1 - 1909
Zoon, v.i. and tr., to make a humming or buzzing sound, to cause to make such a sound. ‘That rock came zoonin' by my head.’ ‘Watch me zoon this rock.’
Dialect Notes vol. 3 391 - 1922
She ‘zooned’ away contentedly, but as she went a couple of sentinels buzzed out to the hive entrance.
Bee Keepers' Review August 8/2 - 1941
Seeing his first passenger plane come zooning across the Ohio River, southward bound.
I. S. Cobb, Exit Laughing xxviii. 348 - 1954
The only boy in Tipkin that wouldn't tie a string to an old juney bug and listen to him zoon.
J. O. Killens, Youngblood 12
the world movement rate of motion swiftness swift movement in specific manner [intransitive verbs] move swiftly in specific manner move swiftly with or as with sound- thunderc1374–In extended use. intransitive. To make a loud, resounding noise like thunder; to roar. Also (frequently with adverb or prepositional phrase…
- hurtle1509–To dash, rush, hurry; esp. with noise.
- rattle1555–Denoting motion or travel, with adverb or prepositional construction indicating direction. intransitive. To move (usually rapidly) with a…
- skirr1567–To move, run, fly, sail, etc., rapidly or with great impetus. Sometimes implying a whirring sound accompanying the movement. Usually const. with…
- whizz1591–To move swiftly with or as with such a sound.
- brustle1638To go hastily with a rustling noise. Cf. bustle, v.¹ II.2a.
- clatter1810–To move rapidly with such a noise, to rattle along, down, over, etc.
- whoosh1856–intransitive. To utter or emit a dull soft sibilant sound, like that of something rushing through the air; to move rapidly with a rushing sound.
- fizz1864–To move with a fizzing sound.
- zoon1880–intransitive. To make a humming, buzzing, or droning sound; to move with, or as if with, such a sound; to move quickly. Also occasionally transitive…
- zing1899–intransitive. Esp. of a bullet or other object passing rapidly through the air: to make a sharp, high-pitched ringing or twanging sound. Hence…
- skoosh1904–intransitive. To move rapidly, esp. (of a vehicle) with a swishing sound; to depart quickly. Also in imperative (Children's slang): ‘go away!’…
- zoom1924–intransitive. To move or travel very quickly, esp. making a continuous humming, buzzing, or droning sound; to make such a sound while moving…
- scream1943–Of an inanimate thing: To make a noise like a scream; spec. to travel swiftly with a screaming noise; also hyperbolically and transferred, of a…
the world physical sensation hearing and noise degree, kind, or quality of sound continuous or protracted sound [intransitive verbs] monotonous sound hum- humc1420–intransitive. To make a low continuous murmuring sound or note, as a bee or other insect; also said of a top or wheel in rapid rotation, a bell…
- boomc1440–intransitive. To hum or buzz, as a bee or beetle; to make a loud, deep sound with much resonance, as a cannon, a large bell, the waves of the sea…
- sum?1440intransitive. To make a buzzing sound.
- bum1499–intransitive. To hum or buzz loudly, like a bee, an object moving rapidly through the air, or a crowd of people talking. Chiefly Scottish after…
- humble1617intransitive. To rumble; to mumble; to hum or buzz as a bee. Exemplified chiefly in humbling n.²
- spin1851–To make a noise like that of spinning.
- zoon1880–intransitive. To make a humming, buzzing, or droning sound; to move with, or as if with, such a sound; to move quickly. Also occasionally transitive…
- reel1899–intransitive. Of an animal, esp. a grasshopper warbler: to make a rapid buzzing, humming, or clicking noise like that of a reel in motion. Cf. reel…
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
- 1800szune
- 1800s–zoon
Frequency
zoon typically occurs about 0.02 times per million words in modern written English.
zoon 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 of zoon, v., 1880–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1880 | 0.025 |
| 1890 | 0.024 |
| 1900 | 0.025 |
| 1910 | 0.024 |
| 1920 | 0.023 |
| 1930 | 0.022 |
| 1940 | 0.023 |
| 1950 | 0.023 |
| 1960 | 0.023 |
| 1970 | 0.023 |
| 1980 | 0.024 |
| 1990 | 0.023 |
| 2000 | 0.023 |
| 2010 | 0.023 |
Compounds & derived words
- zooning, n. 1885–Chiefly in African American usage: a style of…