zawiya, n.

zawiya
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zawiya_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1986; not fully revised

# zawiyanoun

## Earlier version

- zawiya in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zawiya mean?

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

#### 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 zawiya?

About 0.04occurrences per million words in modern written English

1850 | 0.0031
1860 | 0.0027
1870 | 0.0023
1880 | 0.0021
1890 | 0.0006
1900 | 0.0007
1910 | 0.0035
1920 | 0.0087
1930 | 0.011
1940 | 0.018
1950 | 0.023
1960 | 0.028
1970 | 0.034
1980 | 0.038
1990 | 0.038
2000 | 0.041
2010 | 0.04

### How is the noun zawiya pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɑːwɪə/

### Where does the noun zawiya come from?

Earliest known use

1830s

The earliest known use of the noun zawiya is in the 1830s.

OED's earliest evidence for zawiya is from 1836, in the writing of Edward Lane, orientalist.

zawiya is a borrowing from Arabic.

Etymons: Arabic zāwiya.

### Nearby entries

1. zardozi, n. 1871–
2. zarf | zurf, n. 1836–
3. zari, n. 1969–
4. zariba, n. 1849–
5. zariba, v. 1885–
6. zarnich, n. 1612–
7. Zarp, n. 1895–
8. zarzuela, n. 1888–
9. zat, n. 1934–
10. zatch, n. 1950–
11. zawiya, n.1836–
12. zawn, n. 1865–
13. zayat, n. 1823–
14. zayde, n. 1946–
15. zazen, n. 1727–
16. zazzy, adj. 1961–
17. Z band, n. 1950–
18. ZBB, n. 1976–
19. Z-bed, n. 1973–
20. Z-car, n. 1961–
21. Z-day, n. 1925–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Arabic.
Etymon: Arabic zāwiya.
< Arabic zāwiya (hence French zaouia) corner, prayer room.

## Meaning & use

1. 1836–
   In North Africa, a Muslim religious community or its mosque, usually containing the shrine of a holy person.
   1. 1836

      > These lights were not hung merely in honour of the Prophet: they were near a za′wiyeh (or small mosque) in which is buried the sheykh Durwee′sh El-Ashma′wee; and this night was his Moo′lid.

      E. W. Lane, Account of Manners & Customs of Modern Egyptians vol. II. xi. 190
   2. 1874

      > The Djamäa, or rather Zaouia of Abd-er-Rahman eth-Thalebi..contains the tomb of that saint, who died in 1471.

      R. L. Playfair, Handbook for Travellers in Algeria ii. 70/2
   3. 1911

      > Kufra..is a centre of the Senūssite brotherhood, whose zawya (convent) at Jof, in Kebabo, ranks in importance with that of Jarabub.

      Encyclopædia Britannica vol. XXVII. 289/1
   4. 1911

      > A zawiyah, or ‘hermitage’ was offered him by the Pasha.

      D. S. Margoliouth, Mohammedanism v. 184
   5. 1924

      > The sacred colleges of the Moslem fraternities, zaouias, are the scenes of wild, maniacal, religious orgies.

      W. M. Sloane, Greater France in Africa viii. 166
   6. 1958

      > The sheikh (this word signifies either the head of a zaouia or of a tribe..) lives close to the zaouia with his family and the devotees.

      N. Epton, Saints & Sorcerers ii. 28
   7. 1968

      > The zawias, or houses of learning and worship, were documentation centres where copies of the Koran were prepared for distribution.

      T. Blunsum, Libya x. 105
   8. 1977

      > Nefta..a village..whose roof lines are broken by the cupolas of mosques and zaouias.

      Times 30 April 11/3
   9. 1978

      > Who was it used to tell reporters I was a zawiya Berber too pious to be seen?

      J. Updike, Coup (1979) iii. 122
   Islam
   1. zawiya 1836–
      In North Africa, a Muslim religious community or its mosque, usually containing the shrine of a holy person.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. zawiya 1836–
      In North Africa, a Muslim religious community or its mosque, usually containing the shrine of a holy person.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɑːwɪə/

####

##### 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.

## Forms

### Variant forms

Also zawia, zawiyah, zawya; zaouia.

## Frequency

zawiya typically occurs about 0.04 times per million words in modern written English.

zawiya 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 data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zawiya, n., 1850–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1850 | 0.0031
1860 | 0.0027
1870 | 0.0023
1880 | 0.0021
1890 | 0.0006
1900 | 0.0007
1910 | 0.0035
1920 | 0.0087
1930 | 0.011
1940 | 0.018
1950 | 0.023
1960 | 0.028
1970 | 0.034
1980 | 0.038
1990 | 0.038
2000 | 0.041
2010 | 0.04

zawiya, n. was first published in 1986; not fully revised.

zawiya, n. was last modified in December 2024.