Zenonic, adj.¹

zenonic
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zenonic_adj1%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# Zenonicadjective1

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective Zenonic mean?

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

### How common is the adjective Zenonic?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1850 | 0.0009
1860 | 0.0008
1870 | 0.0007
1880 | 0.0006
1890 | 0.0006
1900 | 0.0004
1910 | 0.0002
1920 | 0.0001
1930 | 0.0001
1940 | 0.0001
1950 | 0.0001
1960 | 0.0001
1970 | 0.0001
1980 | 0.0001
1990 | 0.0001
2000 | 0.0001
2010 | 0.0001

### How is the adjective Zenonic pronounced?

#### British English

/zᵻˈnɒnɪk/
zuh-NON-ik

#### U.S. English

/ziˈnɑnɪk/
zee-NAH-nick

### Where does the adjective Zenonic come from?

Earliest known use

late 1700s

The earliest known use of the adjective Zenonic is in the late 1700s.

OED's earliest evidence for Zenonic is from 1779, in the writing of Joseph Berington, Roman Catholic priest and religious controversialist.

From a proper name, combined with an English element.

Etymons: proper name Zēnō, Ζήνων, ‑ic suffix.

### Nearby entries

1. Zennist, adj. & n. 1904–
2. zeno-, comb. form
3. zenocentric, adj. 1911–
4. Zenocratically, adv. 1588
5. zenographic, adj. 1853–
6. zenographical, adj. 1853–
7. zenography, n. 1890–
8. Zenonian, adj.¹ & n.¹ 1654–
9. Zenonian, adj.² 1756–
10. Zenonian, adj.³ & n.² 1837–
11. Zenonic, adj.¹1779–
12. Zenonic, adj.² 1827–
13. Zenonism, n.¹ 1789–
14. Zenonism, n.² 1935–
15. zenzi-, comb. form
16. zenzic, n. & adj. 1557–71
17. zenzicube, adj. & n. 1557–1690
18. zenzicubic, adj. 1557–71
19. zenzicubicube, n. a1690
20. zenzizenzic, adj. & n. 1557–1690
21. zenzizenzicube, n. a1690

## Etymology

### Summary

From a proper name, combined with an English element.
Etymons: proper name Zēnō, Ζήνων, ‑ic suffix.
< classical Latin Zēnōn-, Zēnō or its etymon ancient Greek Ζήνων, the name of the ancient Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea (see Zenonian adj.3) + ‑ic suffix, after e.g. Platonic adj.

Compare later Zenonian adj.3, Zenonism n.2

## Meaning & use

1. 1779–
   Of or relating to Zeno of Elea (early 5th cent. b.c.), or his philosophical ideas, esp. his paradoxes. Cf. Zenonian adj.3
   1. 1779

      > The Zenonic points are merely simple and unextended.

      J. Berington, Immaterialism Delineated 48
   2. 1888

      > Heraclitus's system was the polar antithesis to this Zenonic position.

      Academy 21 April 278/1
   3. 1904

      > The Zenonic puzzles touching the infinite divisibility of space would disappear like magic.

      G. S. Fullerton, System of Metaphysics xxxvii. 439
   4. 2015

      > The traditional Zenonic paradoxes of the mapping of discrete quantities onto a continuum.

      T. Tho in J. Vernon & A. Calcagno, Badiou & Hegel ii. 43
   philosophy
   1. Pythagorical 1570–
      = Pythagorean, adj. B.1a.
   2. Pythagorean 1579–
      Of, relating to, or characteristic of Pythagoras, his followers, or their philosophy.
   3. Anaxagorean 1586–
      Of, relating to, or characteristic of the ancient Greek philosopher Anaxagoras or his ideas, esp. his theories concerning the nature of matter and…
   4. Pythagoric 1589–
      = Pythagorean, adj. Chiefly in plural with the.
   5. Empedoclean 1599–
      Of, relating to, or reminiscent of Empedocles or his philosophy, esp. the idea that earth, air, fire, and water are the four ‘roots’ or elements…
   6. Democritean 1603–
      Of, relating to, or characteristic of Democritus or his philosophy, esp. his atomic theory of matter (see atomic, adj. A.I.1a).
   7. Democrital a1617–1872
      = Democritean, adj.
   8. Democritical 1650
      Ancient Greek Philosophy. = Democritean, adj.
   9. atomical 1653–
      Chiefly History of Science. Designating or adhering to the doctrine of atoms as understood in ancient Greek philosophy or later (cf. atom, n.…
   10. Italic 1662–
       Pertaining to the Greek colonies in southern Italy: said of the school of philosophy founded in Magna Græcia by Pythagoras in the 6th cent. b.c.…
   11. Democritish 1668
       = Democritean, adj.
   12. Anaximandrian 1678–
       Of, relating to, or characteristic of the ancient Greek philosopher Anaximander, noted especially for his contribution to the natural sciences.
   13. atomic 1678–
       History of Science. Designating the doctrine of atoms taught by Leucippus and his pupil Democritus in the 5th cent. b.c.; relating to this…
   14. Democritic 1678–
       Ancient Greek Philosophy. = Democritean, adj.
   15. Heraclitic 1678–
       = Heraclitean, adj.
   16. hylopathian 1678–1809
       Pertaining to, or holding, the view that all things are affections of matter; also as n. one who holds this view.
   17. Parmenidean 1678–
       Of or belonging to Parmenides; relating to or characteristic of his philosophy that everything in existence is but a manifestation of a single…
   18. Heraclitical a1688–
   19. atomistic 1695–
       History of Science. Of or relating to atomists or atomism; = atomic, adj. A.I.1a.
   20. Eleatic 1695–
       Pertaining to Elea or its inhabitants; spec. used of the philosophy of Xenophanes, Parmenides, and Zeno, who lived or were born there.
   21. atomistical 1707–
       = atomistic, adj. 1, 2.
   22. acousmatic 1753–
       Of, relating to, or characteristic of this group. Also in extended use: thoughtless, unthinking.
   23. Pythagorico-Platonic 1760–
       Both Pythagorean and Platonic; that posits a connection between the philosophical theories of Pythagoras and Plato. Cf. Pythagorean, adj., Platonic…
   24. Zenonic 1779–
       Of or relating to Zeno of Elea (early 5th cent. b.c.), or his philosophical ideas, esp. his paradoxes. Cf. Zenonian, adj.³
   25. Heraclitean 1791–
       Of, pertaining to, or of the style of Heraclitus of Ephesus, a Greek philosopher of the 5th century b.c. (called the ‘weeping philosopher’), or his…
   26. neopythagorean 1863–
       Of or relating to neopythagoreanism.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zᵻˈnɒnɪk/
zuh-NON-ik

### U.S. English

/ziˈnɑnɪk/
zee-NAH-nick

####

##### 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

## Frequency

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

Zenonic 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 Zenonic, adj.¹, 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 | 0.0009
1860 | 0.0008
1870 | 0.0007
1880 | 0.0006
1890 | 0.0006
1900 | 0.0004
1910 | 0.0002
1920 | 0.0001
1930 | 0.0001
1940 | 0.0001
1950 | 0.0001
1960 | 0.0001
1970 | 0.0001
1980 | 0.0001
1990 | 0.0001
2000 | 0.0001
2010 | 0.0001

Originally published as part of the entry for Zenonian, adj.¹ & n.¹

Zenonic, adj.¹ was revised in June 2018.

Zenonic, adj.¹ was last modified in July 2023.