zero growthnoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zero growth mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zero growth. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun zero growth?
| 1900 | 0.0001 |
| 1910 | 0.0004 |
| 1920 | 0.0005 |
| 1930 | 0.0015 |
| 1940 | 0.0035 |
| 1950 | 0.029 |
| 1960 | 0.057 |
| 1970 | 0.076 |
| 1980 | 0.088 |
| 1990 | 0.099 |
| 2000 | 0.092 |
| 2010 | 0.075 |
Where does the noun zero growth come from?
Earliest known use
1900s
The earliest known use of the noun zero growth is in the 1900s.
OED's earliest evidence for zero growth is from 1907, in Journal of Experimental Zoology.
Nearby entries
- zero-dimensional, adj.1880–
- zero-emission, n. & adj.1952–
- zero-energy, adj.1947–
- zero-field, adj.1915–
- zero-G, adj. & n.1950–
- zero grade, n.1888–
- zero gravity, n. & adj.1915–
- zero-graze, v.1954–
- zero-grazed, adj.1958–
- zero grazing, n.1954–
- zero growth, n.1907–
- zero hour, n.1915–
- zero-hours, adj.1988–
- zeroing, n.1906–
- zeroize, v.1894–
- zero-length, adj.1945–
- zero-line, n.1834–
- zero magnet, n.1890–
- zero mark, n.1821–
- zero meridian, n.1849–
- zero norm, n.1966–
Meaning & use
- 1907–An absence of increase (in population, economic activity or value, etc.); cf. negative growth n.
- 1907
This decrease was shared by three sets, and two further sets showed zero growth.
Journal of Experimental Zoology vol. 4 61 - 1973
The possibility of zero growth in the population of the United States.
Science 15 June 1143 - 2003
The eurozone economy registered zero growth in the first quarter.
Financial Times 7 June 10/1
- famine1362–Extreme and general scarcity of food, in a town, country, etc.; an instance of this, a period of extreme and general dearth.
- barrentya1382–1440= barrenness, n.
- poverty?1440–Deficiency, dearth, scarcity; smallness of amount. Also: want of or deficiency in or of some property, ingredient, etc.; the condition of being…
- infertility1610–The quality or condition of being infertile; unfruitfulness, unproductiveness, barrenness.
- unfertileness1611–
- non-production1656–The fact of not producing something or of not being produced; lack of production.
- non-productiveness1848–The fact or condition of not being productive.
- unfructuosity1884–(un-, prefix¹ affix 6; cf. unfructuous, adj.)
- zero growth1907–An absence of increase (in population, economic activity or value, etc.); cf. negative growth, n.
Frequency
zero growth typically occurs about 0.09 times per million words in modern written English.
zero growth 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 of zero growth, n., 1900–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1900 | 0.0001 |
| 1910 | 0.0004 |
| 1920 | 0.0005 |
| 1930 | 0.0015 |
| 1940 | 0.0035 |
| 1950 | 0.029 |
| 1960 | 0.057 |
| 1970 | 0.076 |
| 1980 | 0.088 |
| 1990 | 0.099 |
| 2000 | 0.092 |
| 2010 | 0.075 |
Frequency of zero growth, n., 2017–2024
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Modern frequency series are derived from a corpus of 20 billion words, covering the period from 2017 to the present. The corpus is mainly compiled from online news sources, and covers all major varieties of World English.
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 corpus.
| Period | Frequency per million words |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 0.064 |
| 2018 | 0.068 |
| 2019 | 0.06 |
| 2020 | 0.067 |
| 2021 | 0.076 |
| 2022 | 0.072 |
| 2023 | 0.071 |
| 2024 | 0.084 |