zygonnoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zygon mean?
There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun zygon. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.
zygon has developed meanings and uses in subjects including
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 zygon?
| 1880 | 0.0017 |
| 1890 | 0.0018 |
| 1900 | 0.002 |
| 1910 | 0.002 |
| 1920 | 0.0023 |
| 1930 | 0.0025 |
| 1940 | 0.0026 |
| 1950 | 0.0023 |
| 1960 | 0.0023 |
| 1970 | 0.0022 |
| 1980 | 0.0021 |
| 1990 | 0.0019 |
| 2000 | 0.0019 |
| 2010 | 0.0019 |
How is the noun zygon pronounced?
British English
Where does the noun zygon come from?
Earliest known use
1880s
The earliest known use of the noun zygon is in the 1880s.
OED's earliest evidence for zygon is from 1886, in a paper by Burt Green Wilder.
zygon is a borrowing from Latin.
Nearby entries
- zygoma, n.1684–
- zygomatic, adj. & n.1712–
- zygomatico-, comb. form
- zygomato-, comb. form
- zygomere, n.1966–
- zygomorphic, adj.1875–
- zygomorphism, n.1875–
- zygomorphous, adj.1879–
- Zygomycetes, n.1887–
- zygomycetous, adj.1928–
- zygon, n.1886–
- zygonema, n.1911–
- zygoneurous, adj.1901–
- zygophiuran, adj. & n.1892–
- zygophore, n.1904–
- zygophyllaceous, adj.1887–
- zygophyte, n.1885–
- zygopleura, n.1883–
- zygopterid, n. & adj.1900–
- zygosis, n.1880–
- zygosity, n.1952–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1.1886–Anatomy. The bar or stem connecting the two branches of an H-shaped fissure (zygal fissure) of the brain.
- 1886
If..the zygon is the principal, central, and primary constituent of a fissural integer, the paroccipital.
B. G. Wilder in Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease vol. 13 310
the world life the body nervous system cerebrospinal axis brain parts of brain [nouns] fissure parts of- zygon1886–Anatomy. The bar or stem connecting the two branches of an H-shaped fissure (zygal fissure) of the brain.
- stipea1891–Anatomy. ‘A stem: applied to two branches, anterior and posterior, of the zygal or paroccipital fissure of the brain’.
- Sylvian fossa1890–Described by or named after the anatomist Sylvius: applied to certain structures in the brain. A depression of the cerebral hemispheres in the…
- 2.1888–Ancient Greek History. A cross-bench or thwart for rowers.
- 1888
When..vessels were expressly built as triremes, we may imagine..the benches or zyga would be a little raised.
W. B. Woodgate, Boating (Badminton Libr. of Sports & Pastimes) i. 17
society travel travel by water vessel, ship, or boat parts of vessels other parts of body of vessel [nouns] seat in a boat for rower(s)- thoftOld English–A rower's bench; = thwart, n.²
- thawt1589–A rower's bench; = thwart, n.²
- bank1595–Chiefly historical. The bench occupied by the rowers of each oar in a galley.
- thwart1736–A seat across a boat, on which the rower sits; a rower's bench.
- oar-bench1856–
- zygon1888–Ancient Greek History. A cross-bench or thwart for rowers.
Pronunciation
British 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.
Forms
Variant forms
Plural zyga /ˈzaɪɡə/ .Frequency
zygon typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zygon 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 zygon, n., 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 | 0.0017 |
| 1890 | 0.0018 |
| 1900 | 0.002 |
| 1910 | 0.002 |
| 1920 | 0.0023 |
| 1930 | 0.0025 |
| 1940 | 0.0026 |
| 1950 | 0.0023 |
| 1960 | 0.0023 |
| 1970 | 0.0022 |
| 1980 | 0.0021 |
| 1990 | 0.0019 |
| 2000 | 0.0019 |
| 2010 | 0.0019 |
Compounds & derived words
- zygal, adj. 1886–Pertaining to or having a zygon.