Zonian, n.

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

# Zoniannoun (& adjective)

## Earlier version

- Zonian, n. (a.) in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun Zonian mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun Zonian. 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 Zonian?

About 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1910 | 0.0003
1920 | 0.0072
1930 | 0.011
1940 | 0.012
1950 | 0.015
1960 | 0.016
1970 | 0.017
1980 | 0.018
1990 | 0.015
2000 | 0.012
2010 | 0.011

### How is the noun Zonian pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzəʊnɪən/

### Where does the noun Zonian come from?

Earliest known use

1910s

The earliest known use of the noun Zonian is in the 1910s.

OED's earliest evidence for Zonian is from 1910, in Everybody's Magazine.

From a proper name, combined with an English element.

Etymons: Zone, ‑ian suffix.

### Nearby entries

1. zone levelling, n. 1953–
2. zone-melt, v. 1982–
3. zone melting, n. 1952–
4. zone plate, n. 1890–
5. zoner, n. 1962–
6. zone-refine, v. 1962–
7. zone refiner, n. 1959–
8. zone refining, n. 1952–
9. zone therapy, n. 1915–
10. zone time, n. 1908–
11. Zonian, n.1910–
12. zonic, adj. 1797–
13. zoning, n. a1821–
14. zonite, n. 1860–
15. zonitic, adj. 1888–
16. zonk, v. 1950–
17. zonk, int. 1949–
18. zonked, adj. 1959–
19. zonkey, n. 1953–
20. zonking, adj. 1958–
21. zonky, adj. 1972–

## Etymology

### Summary

From a proper name, combined with an English element.
Etymons: Zone, ‑ian suffix.
< Panama Canal Zone (see below) + ‑ian suffix.

## Meaning & use

1. 1910–
   An American inhabitant of the Panama Canal Zone, a ten mile wide strip of land crossing the Isthmus of Panama on both sides of the Panama Canal, which was granted to the United States as a territory in 1904 and was transferred to Panama in 1979. Also attributive or as adj.
   1. 1910

      > Whatever your job, digging a canal, or driving a taxi-cab, or writing stock quotations, don't wear a uniform... The Zonian has a uniform, though, in spite of himself. It is the umbrella.

      Everybody's Magazine March 322/1
   2. 1950

      > The man marrying a girl of mixed blood may be unaware of the general Zonian prejudice that classes all Panamanians as ‘colored’.

      Social Forces December 161/1
   3. 1951

      > Zonians..need no longer do without—just because the commissaries are closed.

      Panama Canal Review 3 August 9/3
   4. 1964

      > ‘Zonians’, American inhabitants of the [Panama Canal] Zone.

      Observer 12 January 1/5
   5. 1979

      > Within a very few months the treaty would be ratified. I told this to a Zonian lady... The Zonians, 3,000 workers for the Panama Canal Company..saw the treaty as a sell-out.

      P. Theroux, Old Patagonian Express xii. 170
   1. Zonian 1910–
      An American inhabitant of the Panama Canal Zone, a ten mile wide strip of land crossing the Isthmus of Panama on both sides of the Panama Canal…
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. Zonian 1950–
      An American inhabitant of the Panama Canal Zone, a ten mile wide strip of land crossing the Isthmus of Panama on both sides of the Panama Canal…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzəʊnɪən/

####

##### 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.

## Frequency

Zonian typically occurs about 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

Zonian 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 Zonian, n., 1910–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1910 | 0.0003
1920 | 0.0072
1930 | 0.011
1940 | 0.012
1950 | 0.015
1960 | 0.016
1970 | 0.017
1980 | 0.018
1990 | 0.015
2000 | 0.012
2010 | 0.011

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

Zonian, n. was last modified in December 2024.