zootype, n.

zootype
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zootype_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2017

# zootypenoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zootype mean?

There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun zootype. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the noun zootype?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1880 | 0.004
1890 | 0.0038
1900 | 0.0032
1910 | 0.0028
1920 | 0.0024
1930 | 0.0024
1940 | 0.0006
1950 | 0.0007
1960 | 0.0017
1970 | 0.0033
1980 | 0.0048
1990 | 0.0056
2000 | 0.0067
2010 | 0.0081

### How is the noun zootype pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzuː(ə)tʌɪp/
ZOO-uh-tighp
/ˈzəʊətʌɪp/
ZOH-uh-tighp

#### U.S. English

/ˈzoʊəˌtaɪp/
ZOH-uh-tighp
/ˈzu(ə)ˌtaɪp/
ZOO-uh-tighp

### Where does the noun zootype come from?

Earliest known use

1880s

The earliest known use of the noun zootype is in the 1880s.

OED's earliest evidence for zootype is from 1883, in the writing of G. Massey.

### Nearby entries

1. zootomical, adj. 1799–
2. zootomically, adv. 1849–
3. zootomist, n. 1663–
4. zootomy, n. 1663–
5. zootoxin, n. 1906–
6. zootrophy, n. 1877–
7. zoot suit, n. 1942–
8. zoot-suited, adj. 1942–
9. zoot-suiter, n. 1942–
10. zooty, adj. 1942–
11. zootype, n.1883–
12. zootypic, adj. 1853–
13. zoowoman, n. 1930–
14. zooxanthella, n. 1882–
15. zooxanthellate, adj. & n. 1981–
16. zooxanthin, n. 1868–
17. zoozygosphere, n. 1880–
18. zope, n. 1880–
19. zophoric, adj. 1728–
20. zophorus | zoophorus, n. 1563–
21. zopilote, n. 1787–

## Meaning & use

1. 1883–
   a. An animal, or figure of an animal, used as the symbolic representation of a god; b. a spatial pattern of gene expression shared by all animal phyla; a stage of embryonic development characterized by the expression of such a pattern.
   1. 1883

      > The four zoötypes of the four elements..the crocodile of earth ; the phœnix of the solar fire ; the ape of air ; and the fish or hippopotamus of the waters.

      G. Massey, Natural Genesis vol. II. 325
   2. 1972

      > The zootype was depicted..with muscular body, bristling fur, lean and flat head, baring its fangs into a snarl.

      Central Asiatic Journal vol. 16 14
   3. 1993

      > We propose that an animal is an organism that displays a particular spatial pattern of gene expression, and we define this pattern as the zootype.

      J. M. W. Slack et al. in Nature 11 February 490/1
   4. 2000

      > The zootype is the point in development when genes specifying relative positions, such as Hox genes, are being expressed.

      Systematic Biology vol. 49 9/2
   genetics
   1. zootype 1883–
      a. An animal, or figure of an animal, used as the symbolic representation of a god; b. a spatial pattern of gene expression shared by all animal…
   2. rongorongo 1919–
      A hieroglyphic script found on wooden tablets on Easter Island, a Chilean dependency in the eastern Pacific Ocean; the art of incising this…
   3. Pascuan 1982–
      The script used by the inhabitants of Easter Island; = rongorongo, n. rare.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzuː(ə)tʌɪp/
ZOO-uh-tighp
/ˈzəʊətʌɪp/
ZOH-uh-tighp

### U.S. English

/ˈzoʊəˌtaɪp/
ZOH-uh-tighp
/ˈzu(ə)ˌtaɪp/
ZOO-uh-tighp

####

##### 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

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

zootype 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 data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zootype, 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 | 0.004
1890 | 0.0038
1900 | 0.0032
1910 | 0.0028
1920 | 0.0024
1930 | 0.0024
1940 | 0.0006
1950 | 0.0007
1960 | 0.0017
1970 | 0.0033
1980 | 0.0048
1990 | 0.0056
2000 | 0.0067
2010 | 0.0081

Originally published as part of the entry for zoo-, comb. form

zoo-, comb. form was revised in June 2017.