zoonite, n.

zoonite
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoonite_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2017

# zoonitenoun

## Earlier version

- zoonite in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zoonite mean?

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

### How common is the noun zoonite?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1840 | 0.0043
1850 | 0.0039
1860 | 0.0034
1870 | 0.003
1880 | 0.003
1890 | 0.003
1900 | 0.0007
1910 | 0.0005
1920 | 0.0002
1930 | 0.0001
1940 | 0.00007
1950 | 0.00001
1960 | 0.00001
1970 | 0.00004
1980 | 0.00006
1990 | 0.00008
2000 | 0.00009
2010 | 0.0001

### How is the noun zoonite pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzəʊənʌɪt/
ZOH-uh-night
/ˈzuː(ə)nʌɪt/
ZOO-uh-night

#### U.S. English

/ˈzoʊəˌnaɪt/
ZOH-uh-night
/ˈzu(ə)ˌnaɪt/
ZOO-uh-night

### Where does the noun zoonite come from?

Earliest known use

1830s

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

OED's earliest evidence for zoonite is from 1838, in the writing of S. Jackson.

zoonite is a borrowing from French.

Etymons: French zoonite.

### Nearby entries

1. zoomythic, adj. 1889–
2. zoon, n. 1851–1905
3. zoon, v. 1880–
4. zoon, int. 1863–
5. -zoon, comb. form
6. zoonate, n. 1798–1857
7. zoonerythrin, n. 1882–
8. zoonic, adj. 1798–1853
9. zooning, n. 1885–
10. Zoonist, adj. 1890–97
11. zoonite, n.1838–
12. zoonitic, adj. 1860–91
13. zoonomic, adj. 1836–
14. zoonomical, adj. 1800–
15. zoonomist, n. 1800–99
16. zoonomy, n. 1800–
17. zoonosis, n. 1873–
18. zoonosologist, n. 1860–
19. zoonosology, n. 1845–
20. zoonotic, adj. 1877–
21. zoon politikon, n. 1895–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from French.
Etymon: French zoonite.
< French zoonite (A. Moquin-Tandon Monographie de la famille des Hirudinées (1827) 89), irregularly < ancient Greek ζῷον animal (see zoon n.) + French ‑ite ‑ite suffix1.

## Meaning & use

Zoology.

1. 1838–
   A body segment of an articulated or segmented animal, esp. such a segment regarded as a distinct organism; a metamere or somite. Cf. zonite n. 2. Now historical and rare.
   1. 1838

      > Each organ is a distinct, subordinate organization; a species of zoonite or inferior animal.

      S. Jackson, On Methods acquiring Knowledge 30
   2. 1861

      > The Worm..is composed of segments or articulations..in each of which the same organs are regularly repeated... It may be termed a distinct series of animals... These special organisms have received the name of Zoonites (1826).

      R. T. Hulme, translation of C. H. Moquin-Tandon, Elements of Medical Zoology ii.ii. 59
   3. 1881

      > Among the more important points are the total absence at all stages of the fifth thoracic zoonite and its appendages.

      Proceedings of Royal Society vol. 32 47
   4. 1910

      > Behind the head are three segments, or zoonites, each bearing a pair of legs.

      N. Banks in Rat & its Relation Public Health U.S. Public Health Bull. No. 30 71
   5. 1963

      > Zealous theorists..,[viewed] the annelid..as a sort of colony of segments (primary individuals, zoönites) united into a superorganism having its own..individuality.

      G. O. Mackie in E. C. Dougherty et al., Lower Metazoa xxiv. 329
   6. 1987

      > In some invertebrates, he suggested, zoonites could live independently, while in others they lost their liberty through modification and more intimate association with other zoonites.

      T. A. Appel, Cuvier-Geoffroy Deb. 162
   animals ecology historical
   1. zoonite 1838–
      A body segment of an articulated or segmented animal, esp. such a segment regarded as a distinct organism; a metamere or somite. Cf. zonite, n.…
   2. zooid 1851–
      An organism or (esp. in early use) motile cell thought to resemble an animal but not to be one in a strict or full sense; esp. an invertebrate…
   3. zoon 1851–1905
      A distinct organism (whether a single entity, as in vertebrates, or a colonial form consisting of zooids) regarded as being the whole product of a…
   4. zoid 1856–
      = zooid, n.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. insect a1658–76
      Having the body divided into segments; chiefly in insect animals = Latin animālia insecta: see insecta, n.
   2. zoonite 1838–
      A body segment of an articulated or segmented animal, esp. such a segment regarded as a distinct organism; a metamere or somite. Cf. zonite, n.…
   3. segmental 1854–
      Of, pertaining to, or composed of segments or divisions. In various applications (Anatomy, Biology, Acoustics, etc.). segmental apparatus, the…
   4. segmented 1854–
      Anatomy, Zoology, etc. Consisting of segments or similar parts arranged in a longitudinal series.
   5. zoonitic 1860–91
      Of or relating to a zoonite or zoonites.
   6. segmentate 1875–
      Formed of segments, segmented.
   7. metamerized 1878–
      Divided into metameric segments.
   8. somatomic 1882–
   9. somitic 1888–
      Of or pertaining to, having the form or character of, a somite.
   10. somital 1890–
       Of or pertaining to a somite; somitic.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. articulation 1765–1893
      Botany and Zoology. Each of the segments of a jointed structure; the part contained between two joints in a limb, the stem of a plant, etc. Cf. arti…
   2. segment 1826–
      Biology and Embryology. Each of the longitudinal divisions composing the body in some animals, esp. in the Articulata; a somite, metamere.
   3. zoonite 1838–
      A body segment of an articulated or segmented animal, esp. such a segment regarded as a distinct organism; a metamere or somite. Cf. zonite, n.…
   4. somatome 1856–
      A section or segment of the body.
   5. actinomere 1861
      A radial segment; a portion of the surface of a radially symmetrical animal (in quot., an ovate ctenophore) delineated by lines reaching from pole…
   6. somite 1869–
      One or other of the more or less distinct segments into which the bodies of many animals are divided.
   7. metamere 1876–
      Zoology. Each of the similar segments of the body of an animal that exhibits metamerism; a somite.
   8. metamer 1884–
      Zoology. = metamere, n. 1. Now rare.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. individual 1746–
      Zoology. Each of the distinct beings which make up a colonial organism, and which typically have different forms and functions. Cf. person, n. III.9.
   2. zoonite 1838–
      A body segment of an articulated or segmented animal, esp. such a segment regarded as a distinct organism; a metamere or somite. Cf. zonite, n.…
   3. zooid 1851–
      An organism or (esp. in early use) motile cell thought to resemble an animal but not to be one in a strict or full sense; esp. an invertebrate…
   4. zoon 1851–1905
      A distinct organism (whether a single entity, as in vertebrates, or a colonial form consisting of zooids) regarded as being the whole product of a…
   5. zoid 1856–
      = zooid, n.
   6. allozooid 1857–61
      A detached vegetative bud or zooid which is different in form from its parent animal.
   7. person 1876–
      Zoology. Each of the individual zooids of a colonial organism. Now rare.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzəʊənʌɪt/
ZOH-uh-night
/ˈzuː(ə)nʌɪt/
ZOO-uh-night

### U.S. English

/ˈzoʊəˌnaɪt/
ZOH-uh-night
/ˈzu(ə)ˌnaɪt/
ZOO-uh-night

####

##### 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.

####

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. 1800s
   zoönite
2. 1800s–
   zoonite

## Frequency

zoonite typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zoonite is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 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 zoonite, n., 1840–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1840 | 0.0043
1850 | 0.0039
1860 | 0.0034
1870 | 0.003
1880 | 0.003
1890 | 0.003
1900 | 0.0007
1910 | 0.0005
1920 | 0.0002
1930 | 0.0001
1940 | 0.00007
1950 | 0.00001
1960 | 0.00001
1970 | 0.00004
1980 | 0.00006
1990 | 0.00008
2000 | 0.00009
2010 | 0.0001

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zoonitic, adj. 1860–91
   Of or relating to a zoonite or zoonites.

zoonite, n. was revised in June 2017.

zoonite, n. was last modified in July 2023.