zuur-veldt, n.

zuur-veldt
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zuur-veldt_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1921; not fully revised

# zuur-veldtnoun

## Earlier version

- zuur-veldt in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zuur-veldt mean?

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

This word is used in South African English.

#### Entry status

OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.

### How is the noun zuur-veldt pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzʊəvɛlt/
ZOOR-velt
/ˈzʊəfɛlt/
ZOOR-felt

#### U.S. English

/ˈzʊrˌvɛlt/
ZOOR-velt

#### South African English

/ˈzʊəvelt/
/ˈzʊəfelt/

### Where does the noun zuur-veldt come from?

Earliest known use

late 1700s

The earliest known use of the noun zuur-veldt is in the late 1700s.

OED's earliest evidence for zuur-veldt is from 1785, in a translation by Georg Forster, traveller and naturalist.

zuur-veldt is a borrowing from Cape Dutch.

### Nearby entries

1. zunyite, n. 1885–
2. zuppa, n. 1961–
3. Zurich, n. 1870–
4. Zuricher, n. 1673–
5. zurla, n. 1940–
6. zurlite, n. 1826–
7. zurna, n. 1870–
8. zurr, n. 1803–
9. zussmanite, n. 1965–
10. zut, int. 1915–
11. zuur-veldt, n.1785–
12. zuz, n. 1688–
13. zwanziger, n. 1828–
14. Zweig, n. 1973–
15. zwieback, n. 1894–
16. zwieselite, n. 1861–
17. Zwinglian, n. & adj. 1532–
18. Zwinglianism, n. 1581–
19. Zwinglianist, n. 1673–1759
20. zwischenzug, n. 1941–
21. zwitterion, n. 1906–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Cape Dutch.
Cape Dutch, = sour country or pasture land: see sour adj., veld n.

## Meaning & use

South African.

1. 1785–
   A district covered with sour pasturage. Also attributive.
   1. 1785

      > What are termed by the colonists Zuurvelden or Sour-fields, are such as lie somewhat higher and cooler than the shore, and thus are better supplied with rain than the other plains.

      G. Forster, translation of A. Sparrman, Voyage to Cape of Good Hope vol. I. vi. 249
   2. 1827

      > The pasture is all Zureveldt.

      T. Philipps, Scenes in Albany 119
   3. 1834

      > Long, coarse, wiry grass, of the sort called sour (whence the names Zureberg and Zure~veld).

      T. Pringle, African Sketches vi. 203
   4. 1850

      > Black, zuur-veldt oxen.

      R. Gordon-Cumming, Five Years of Hunter's Life South Africa vol. I. i. 13
   agriculture South African English
   1. frith a1552–
      A piece of land grown sparsely with trees or with underwood only. Also, a space between woods; unused pasture land (see quots.). Now only dialect.
   2. bruery 1573–
      Esp. in East Anglia: heathland used for grazing.
   3. agistment 1598
      The herbage of a forest, or the right to it. Cf. herbage, n. 3. Obsolete.
   4. mountain 1780–
      Irish English and English regional (northern). As a mass noun: rough unenclosed pastureland, often on the slope of a hill. Cf. mountain-land, n. (a).
   5. zuur-veldt 1785–
      A district covered with sour pasturage. Also attributive.
   6. boosey pasture 1794
      An ox- or cow-stall, a crib; = boose, n. Also attributive, as boosey close n. the close in which the cow-sheds stand. boosey pasture n. also boozy pa…
   7. rough grazing 1802–
      Uncultivated land used for grazing; an area of this.
   8. accommodation paddock 1843–
      A paddock used to hold animals in transit and provide pasture for them.
   9. bocage 1863–
      Pastureland divided into small fields by banks, ditches, and hedges, interspersed with groves of trees.
   10. outrun 1870–
       Chiefly Scottish and Australian. An outlying or distant piece of grazing land on a farm; outlying pasturage.
   11. long paddock 1898–
       (The grassy verge of) a public road, used for grazing stock; (also) the travelling stock routes, considered collectively.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzʊəvɛlt/
ZOOR-velt
/ˈzʊəfɛlt/
ZOOR-felt

### U.S. English

/ˈzʊrˌvɛlt/
ZOOR-velt

### South African English

/ˈzʊəvelt/
/ˈzʊəfelt/

####

##### 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.

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xgogga
- hhay
- llay
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing
- ɬlekgotla

Afrikaans uses a sound similar to /t/ and /k/ but made in the same part of the mouth as /j/, which may appear in some speakers’ pronunciations in English, but the OED reflects their common anglicized forms of /tʃ/ or /k/. Similarly, African click sounds are shown as their common anglicized forms, highly variable but often as /g/, /k/ and/or /h/.

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used as in British and US English.

##### Vowels

- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- edress
- ætrap
- ʌstrut
- ɒlot, cloth
- ɔːthought, north, force
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- ɑːbath, palm, start
- ɜːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- aɪpride
- eɪface
- ɔɪvoice
- əletter
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)

The symbols used for several of the South African vowels are less precise than their use in other varieties. For example, in some words the /ɪ/ vowel will sound closer to /ə/ whilst still being in a stressed syllable. Some vowels reflected as /ɒ/ may sound similar to /ɔː/ but significantly shorter. Some vowels transcribed as /e/ may sound longer, or some transcribed as /eɪ/ sound more steady (a sound like /eː/). In some words, /ʌ/ and /æ/ may also sound very similar to each other.

##### 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 zuur-feldt, zureveld.

zuur-veldt, n. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.

zuur-veldt, n. was last modified in July 2023.