zoid, n.

zoid
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoid_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1921; not fully revised

# zoidnoun

## Earlier version

- zoid, n. in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zoid mean?

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

About 0.02occurrences per million words in modern written English

1850 | 0.0039
1860 | 0.0043
1870 | 0.0047
1880 | 0.005
1890 | 0.036
1900 | 0.051
1910 | 0.088
1920 | 0.09
1930 | 0.091
1940 | 0.094
1950 | 0.095
1960 | 0.065
1970 | 0.049
1980 | 0.013
1990 | 0.011
2000 | 0.011
2010 | 0.0067

### How is the noun zoid pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzəʊɪd/

### Where does the noun zoid come from?

Earliest known use

1850s

The earliest known use of the noun zoid is in the 1850s.

OED's earliest evidence for zoid is from 1856, in the writing of Samuel Woodward, naturalist and palaeontologist.

zoid is a borrowing from Greek, combined with an English element.

Etymons: Greek ζῷον, ‑id suffix2.

### Nearby entries

1. zoea, n. 1828–
2. zoeal, adj.?1870–
3. zoetrope, n. 1866–
4. zographer, n. 1570
5. zography, n. 1570
6. zograscope, n. 1753–
7. Zohar, n. 1682–
8. zoic, adj. 1863–
9. -zoic, comb. form¹
10. -zoic, comb. form²
11. zoid, n.1856–
12. zoid, adj. 1864–
13. zoidiophilous, adj. 1872–
14. zoidogamous, adj. 1899–
15. Zoilean, adj. 1846–
16. Zoilism, n. 1609–
17. Zoilist, n. 1594–
18. Zoilitical, adj. 1665
19. Zoilous, adj. 1577–
20. Zoilus, n. 1565–
21. zoisite, n. 1805–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Greek, combined with an English element.
Etymons: Greek ζῷον, ‑id suffix2.
< Greek ζῷον animal + ‑id suffix2, or shortened < zooid n.

## Meaning & use

Biology.

1. 1856–
   = zooid n.
   1. 1856

      > In one group [of Tunicata] the individuals..become blended into a common mass... The separate individuals of these composite masses are termed Zoïds.

      S. P. Woodward, Manual of Mollusca iii. 336
   2. 1875

      > Many zoids or buds being attached in line.

      Encyclopædia Britannica vol. II. 69/1
   3. 1960

      > Most algae, excluding the Cyanophyta, reproduce sexually by gametes and asexually by spores of various kinds (collectively called ‘zoids’, except for aplanospores).

      Botanical Gazette vol. 122 33/1
   4. 1981

      > Subterminal ovicell complexes bud distally from part of the complex and are generally composed of female zoid with ovicell, lateral zoid, and ovicell zoid with apical chamber.

      Australian Journal Zoology vol. 29 365
   ecology
   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. 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

/ˈzəʊɪd/

####

##### 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

zoid typically occurs about 0.02 times per million words in modern written English.

zoid 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 zoid, n., 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 | 0.0039
1860 | 0.0043
1870 | 0.0047
1880 | 0.005
1890 | 0.036
1900 | 0.051
1910 | 0.088
1920 | 0.09
1930 | 0.091
1940 | 0.094
1950 | 0.095
1960 | 0.065
1970 | 0.049
1980 | 0.013
1990 | 0.011
2000 | 0.011
2010 | 0.0067

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. anthozooid, adj. & n. 1851–
   A polyp; spec. an individual polyp of a colonial…

1. sporozoid, n. 1882–

1. zoidogamous, adj. 1899–
   = zooidogamous, adj.

zoid, n. was first published in 1921; not fully revised.

zoid, n. was last modified in December 2024.