zoophilia, n.

zoophilia
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoophilia_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2017

# zoophilianoun

## Earlier version

- zoophilia in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zoophilia mean?

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

### How common is the noun zoophilia?

About 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1890 | 0.0034
1900 | 0.005
1910 | 0.006
1920 | 0.0065
1930 | 0.0074
1940 | 0.0082
1950 | 0.01
1960 | 0.011
1970 | 0.011
1980 | 0.012
1990 | 0.012
2000 | 0.013
2010 | 0.014

### How is the noun zoophilia pronounced?

#### British English

/ˌzuː(ə)ˈfɪliə/
zoo-uh-FIL-ee-uh
/ˌzəʊəˈfɪliə/
zoh-uh-FIL-ee-uh

#### U.S. English

/ˌzu(ə)ˈfɪljə/
zoo-uh-FIL-yuh
/ˌzoʊ(ə)ˈfɪljə/
zoh-uh-FIL-yuh

### Where does the noun zoophilia come from?

Earliest known use

1890s

The earliest known use of the noun zoophilia is in the 1890s.

OED's earliest evidence for zoophilia is from 1894, in a translation by H. M. Bannister.

zoophilia is formed within English, by compounding.

Etymons: zoo- comb. form, ‑philia comb. form.

### Nearby entries

1. zoon politikon, n. 1895–
2. zoonters, int. a1763–
3. zoo-organic, adj. 1821–90
4. zoopathologist, n. 1898–
5. zoopathology, n. 1841–
6. zoophagan, n. & adj. 1835–
7. zoophagic, adj. 1903–
8. zoophagous, adj. 1788–
9. zoophagy, n. 1849–
10. zoophile, n. 1885–
11. zoophilia, n.1894–
12. zoophilic, adj. 1884–
13. zoophilism, n. 1867–
14. zoophilist, n. 1829–
15. zoophilite, n. 1879–
16. zoophilous, adj. 1881–
17. zoophily, n. 1830–
18. zoophobia, n. 1888–
19. zoophysical, adj. 1820–
20. zoophysics, n. 1887–
21. zoophysiology, n. 1803–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by compounding.
< zoo- comb. form + ‑philia comb. form…
< zoo- comb. form + ‑philia comb. form.

### Notes

In sense 1 after French zoophilie (1855 or earlier in this sense); compare earlier zoophily n. 1.
In sense 2 after scientific Latin zoophilia (R. von Krafft-Ebing Psychopathia sexualis (ed. 10, 1898) 181; > German Zoophilie (1900 or earlier in this sense)); compare:

1. 1899

   > In close relation to stuff-fetichism, certain cases must be considered in which beasts exercise an aphrodisical influence over human beings. One feels tempted to call it Zoophilia Erotica. This perversion seems to be rooted in a fetichism the object of which is the skin of the beast.

   F. J. Rebman, translation of R. von Krafft-Ebing, Psychopathia Sexualis iii. 267

## Meaning & use

Originally Psychology and Psychiatry.

1. 1.
   1894–
   Emotional attachment to, or love of, animals; opposition to cruelty to animals; (in early use) esp. concern for the welfare of animals which is considered abnormal or obsessive.
   1. 1894

      > The obsession reveals itself here either by a dread of certain animals (zoophobia), or by the impossibility of seeing them suffer in any way (zoophilia [French zoophilie], antivivisectionists of Magnan).

      H. M. Bannister, translation of E. Régis, Pract. Manual Mental Medicine viii. 274
   2. 1904

      > The imaginary ‘vivisector’ whom the victims of the obsession of zoophilia are so fond of holding up to popular hatred.

      British Medical Journal 27 August 474/1
   3. 1972

      > The concern is frequently so extreme and so distorted that the end result is kind of misanthropic zoophilia.

      Proceedings of American Philosophical Society vol. 116 159/2
   4. 2000

      > Hitler's zoophilia, and Nazi environmentalism more generally, were connected with a hostility to ‘cosmopolitan’ intellect.

      Yale Law Journal vol. 110 535
   psychiatry
2. 2.
   1906–
   Sexual desire aroused by or directed towards animals; (in later use also) sexual activity with animals.
   1. 1906

      > There is..the more or less sexual pleasure sometimes experienced..in the sight of copulating animals. This I would propose to call Mixoscopic Zoophilia; it falls within the range of normal variations.

      H. Ellis, Studies in Psychology of Sex vol. V. 71
   2. 1908

      > We will first describe zoophilia, a sexual inclination towards animals without actual sexual intercourse.

      E. Paul, translation of I. Bloch, Sexual Life of our Time xxiii. 641
   3. 1940

      > Zoöphilia..is a term coined by Krafft-Ebing to denote sexual excitement caused by the stroking and fondling of animals. It does not refer to sexual intercourse with animals.

      L. E. Hinsie & J. Shatzky, Psychiatric Dictionary 558/2
   4. 1966

      > The extent to which zoophilia involving monkeys was actually practised is difficult to assess.

      R. Morris & D. Morris, Men & Apes iii. 65
   5. 1978

      > One of your contemporaries referred in its review to the ‘zoophilia’ in this film. A simpler word is animalism or bestiality.

      Daily Telegraph 2 December 16
   6. 2007

      > I am not for a moment attempting to equate homosexuality with zoophilia.

      GQ (U.K. edition) April 205/3
   psychiatry
   1. buggery 1533–
      Originally: the act of anal intercourse between two men or between a man and a woman, or of sexual intercourse between a person and an animal… When used to refer to lawful anal intercourse now generally considered offensive but also somewhat archaic; sometimes employed ironically (as e.g. in quot. 2003).
   2. beastliness 1576–1855
      Sexual intercourse between a person and an animal; bestiality, or an instance of this. Obsolete.
   3. bestiality 1576–
      Sexual intercourse between a person and an animal.
   4. bestialism 1865–
      The action or practice of having sexual intercourse with an animal.
   5. zoophilia 1906–
      Sexual desire aroused by or directed towards animals; (in later use also) sexual activity with animals.
   6. sheep-shagging 1958–
      Usually as part of an insult or derogatory suggestion, esp. directed at a man from a rural region: sexual intercourse with sheep.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˌzuː(ə)ˈfɪliə/
zoo-uh-FIL-ee-uh
/ˌzəʊəˈfɪliə/
zoh-uh-FIL-ee-uh

### U.S. English

/ˌzu(ə)ˈfɪljə/
zoo-uh-FIL-yuh
/ˌzoʊ(ə)ˈfɪljə/
zoh-uh-FIL-yuh
/ˌzu(ə)ˈfɪliə/
zoo-uh-FIL-ee-uh
/ˌzoʊ(ə)ˈfɪliə/
zoh-uh-FIL-ee-uh

####

##### 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

## Forms

### Variant forms

See zoo- comb. form and ‑philia comb. form.

## Frequency

zoophilia typically occurs about 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zoophilia 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 zoophilia, n., 1890–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1890 | 0.0034
1900 | 0.005
1910 | 0.006
1920 | 0.0065
1930 | 0.0074
1940 | 0.0082
1950 | 0.01
1960 | 0.011
1970 | 0.011
1980 | 0.012
1990 | 0.012
2000 | 0.013
2010 | 0.014

zoophilia, n. was revised in June 2017.

zoophilia, n. was last modified in September 2024.