zymase, n.

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

# zymasenoun

## Earlier version

- zymase in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zymase mean?

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

About 0.02occurrences per million words in modern written English

1870 | 0.042
1880 | 0.074
1890 | 0.095
1900 | 0.11
1910 | 0.13
1920 | 0.14
1930 | 0.14
1940 | 0.12
1950 | 0.097
1960 | 0.07
1970 | 0.041
1980 | 0.022
1990 | 0.013
2000 | 0.0096
2010 | 0.0082

### How is the noun zymase pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzʌɪmeɪs/
ZIGH-mayss
/ˈzʌɪmeɪz/
ZIGH-mayz

#### U.S. English

/ˈzaɪˌmeɪs/
ZIGH-mayss
/ˈzaɪˌmeɪz/
ZIGH-mayz

### Where does the noun zymase come from?

Earliest known use

1870s

The earliest known use of the noun zymase is in the 1870s.

OED's earliest evidence for zymase is from 1875, in Journal of Chemical Society.

zymase is a borrowing from French.

Etymons: French zymase.

### Nearby entries

1. zygotic, adj. 1909–
2. -zygotic, comb. form
3. zygotically, adv. 1915–
4. zygotoblast, n. 1899–
5. zygotoid, n. 1891–
6. zygotomere, n. 1899–
7. -zygous, comb. form
8. zygozoospore, n. 1881–
9. Zyklon, n. 1939–
10. zymad, n. 1885–
11. zymase, n.1875–
12. zymate, n. 1817–19
13. zyme, n. 1882–
14. zymic, adj. 1817–26
15. zymin, n. 1842–
16. zyminized, adj. 1888–
17. zymo-, comb. form
18. zymocyte, n. a1909–
19. zymodeme, n. 1978–
20. zymogen, n. 1877–
21. zymogenetic, adj. 1896–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from French.
Etymon: French zymase.
< French zymase (Bechamp), < Greek ζύμη leaven, after diastase.

## Meaning & use

Chemistry.

1. 1875–
   Name given to a ferment obtained from the yeast-fungus; also extended to unorganized ferments or enzymes in general.
   1. 1875
      Journal of Chemical Society vol. 28 374.
   2. 1899

      > Bechamp thought that the enzyme from fungi was not quite the same as that existing in the flowers... He gave to the first the name zymase... The name zymase was soon abandoned, as it began to be applied to enzymes in general.

      J. R. Green, Soluble Ferments viii. 108
   fungi chemistry

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzʌɪmeɪs/
ZIGH-mayss
/ˈzʌɪmeɪz/
ZIGH-mayz

### U.S. English

/ˈzaɪˌmeɪs/
ZIGH-mayss
/ˈzaɪˌmeɪz/
ZIGH-mayz

####

##### 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

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

zymase 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 zymase, n., 1870–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1870 | 0.042
1880 | 0.074
1890 | 0.095
1900 | 0.11
1910 | 0.13
1920 | 0.14
1930 | 0.14
1940 | 0.12
1950 | 0.097
1960 | 0.07
1970 | 0.041
1980 | 0.022
1990 | 0.013
2000 | 0.0096
2010 | 0.0082

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. nephrozymase, n. 1889–92
   A diastatic enzyme said to be present in urine.

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

zymase, n. was last modified in December 2024.