zoanthropynoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zoanthropy mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zoanthropy. 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 zoanthropy?
| 1880 | 0.0002 |
| 1890 | 0.0004 |
| 1900 | 0.0004 |
| 1910 | 0.0005 |
| 1920 | 0.0006 |
| 1930 | 0.0007 |
| 1940 | 0.0008 |
| 1950 | 0.0009 |
| 1960 | 0.0008 |
| 1970 | 0.0008 |
| 1980 | 0.0008 |
| 1990 | 0.0007 |
| 2000 | 0.0007 |
| 2010 | 0.0007 |
How is the noun zoanthropy pronounced?
British English
Where does the noun zoanthropy come from?
Earliest known use
1850s
The earliest known use of the noun zoanthropy is in the 1850s.
OED's only evidence for zoanthropy is from 1856, in the writing of E. Jesse.
zoanthropy is a borrowing from Latin.
Etymons: Latin zōanthrōpia.
Nearby entries
- zloty, n.1915–
- Zn, n.1814–
- -zoa, comb. form
- -zoan, comb. form
- zoantharian, adj. & n.1887–
- zoanthid, n.1870–
- zoanthidan, adj.1888–
- zoanthodeme, n.1877–
- zoanthoid, adj.1854–
- zoanthropic, adj.1891–
- zoanthropy, n.1856–
- zoanthus, n.1841–
- zoarial, adj.1896–
- zoarium, n.1880–
- zob, n.1911–
- zocalo, n.1884–
- zocco, n.1664–1723
- zocle, n.1704–
- zoco, n.1892–
- zodiac, n.1390–
- zodiacal, adj.1576–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1856–A form of insanity in which a person imagines himself or herself to be a beast.
- 1856
Several forms of mania, classed by Sauvages in his Nosology under the general head of Zoanthropy.
E. Jesse, Walton's Angler i. v. 166 (note)
the world health mental health and illness mental illness specific type of mental illness schizophrenia and other psychotic conditions symptoms of schizophrenia and other psychotic conditions [nouns] delusion types of delusion- lycanthropy1584–A kind of insanity described by ancient writers, in which the patient imagined himself or herself to be a wolf, and had the instincts and…
- cynanthropy1594–A form of madness in which a person believes himself or herself to be a dog and behaves accordingly.
- hob-thrush1658? Lycanthropy. Obsolete. (Apparently an erroneous translation of French loup-garou lycanthrope, through a misunderstanding of Cotgrave's definition.)
- wolf-madness1663–A form of mania in which a person imagines himself or herself to be a wolf (= lycanthropy, n. 1).
- syphilomania1815–The tendency (among physicians) to overdiagnose syphilis, or to treat patients for syphilis unnecessarily; an instance of this. Now rare.
- hippanthropy1847–The delusional belief that one is a horse; an instance of this.
- habromania1854–A kind of insanity in which the delusions are of a cheerful or gay character.
- zoanthropy1856–A form of insanity in which a person imagines himself or herself to be a beast.
- boanthropy1864–A form of madness in which a man believes himself to be an ox (see Daniel iv. 33).
- megalomania1885–In Psychology: delusions of power or self-importance, esp. resulting from mental illness; a passion for grandiose schemes. More generally: lust for…
- folie de grandeur1890–Originally: a condition characterized by the delusional belief that one possesses greatness or is a great historical or religious figure (rare)…
- plutomania1890–94A delusional belief that one possesses immense wealth. Obsolete.
- uranomania1890–The delusion that one is of divine or celestial origin.
- micromania1892–The delusion that the body or part of it has become abnormally small. Also: a persistent or exaggerated tendency to belittle oneself or regard…
- A false belief concerning one's personality or status, which is thought to be more important than it is. Also figurative.
- omnipotence1916–Psychoanalysis. The belief that all one's desires will be fulfilled, or that a certain outcome or object can be attained merely by wishing for it.
- nihilism1927–Psychiatry. The delusional belief that the patient's self, the outside world, or parts of either have ceased to exist or to function. Cf. nihilistic…
- apophenia1959–Psychiatry. The baseless or irrational attribution of great or revelatory significance to an external event or internal experience, occurring during…
- apophany1960–The baseless or irrational attribution of great or revelatory significance to an external event or internal experience, occurring during the…
- sundowner1974–Originally and chiefly U.S. In plural. Symptoms of dementia (disorientation, agitation, etc.) that occur or worsen significantly towards the end…
- sundowning1978–Originally North American. Worsening of symptoms of dementia (such as disorientation, agitation, delusions, etc.) towards the end of the day or…
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.
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
zoanthropy typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zoanthropy 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 of zoanthropy, 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 | 0.0002 |
| 1890 | 0.0004 |
| 1900 | 0.0004 |
| 1910 | 0.0005 |
| 1920 | 0.0006 |
| 1930 | 0.0007 |
| 1940 | 0.0008 |
| 1950 | 0.0009 |
| 1960 | 0.0008 |
| 1970 | 0.0008 |
| 1980 | 0.0008 |
| 1990 | 0.0007 |
| 2000 | 0.0007 |
| 2010 | 0.0007 |
Compounds & derived words
- zoanthropic, adj. 1891–Pertaining to zoanthropy.