zalcitabine, n.

zalcitabine
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zalcitabine_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1997; not fully revised

# zalcitabinenoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zalcitabine mean?

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

About 0.05occurrences per million words in modern written English

1990 | 0.047
2000 | 0.047
2010 | 0.047

### How is the noun zalcitabine pronounced?

#### British English

/zalˈsɪtəbiːn/
zal-SIT-uh-been

### Where does the noun zalcitabine come from?

Earliest known use

1990s

The earliest known use of the noun zalcitabine is in the 1990s.

OED's earliest evidence for zalcitabine is from 1991, in Pharmacotherapy.

zalcitabine is apparently an arbitrary formation.

### Nearby entries

1. zaim, n. 1807–
2. zaire, n. 1967–
3. Zairean, n. & adj. 1972–
4. Zairese, adj. & n. 1974–
5. Zairois, n. & adj. 1973–
6. zaitech, n. 1986–
7. zakat, n. 1668–
8. Zakka Khel, n. 1860–
9. zakuska, n. 1885–
10. zalambdodont, adj. 1885–
11. zalcitabine, n.1991–
12. zamacueca, n. 1855–
13. Zamak, n. 1926–
14. zamang, n. 1819–
15. zamarra, n. 1841–
16. zama zama, n. 2006–
17. Zamazim, n. a1400–
18. Zambian, adj. & n. 1959–
19. Zambianization, n. 1964–
20. Zambianize, v. 1964–
21. zambo, n. 1819–

## Etymology

### Summary

Apparently an arbitrary formation.
< zal- of unknown origin + ‑citabine, apparently < by arbitrary alteration of cytidine n. (perhaps after vidarabine n.).

## Meaning & use

Pharmacology.

1. 1991–
   = dideoxycytidine n.
   1. 1991

      > Zalcitabine (2′,3′ dideoxycytidine, ddC) is one of a number of 2′,3′ dideoxynucleosides demonstrating activity against HIV.

      Pharmacotherapy vol. XI. 438/2
   2. 1992

      > A new AIDS drug, called zalcitabine or ddC, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

      Sun (Baltimore) 23 June a3/6
   3. 1993

      > HIV-1 from four of six patients receiving zidovudine with zalcitabine developed high-level resistance to zidovudine.

      Journal of Pediatrics vol. 123 9
   pharmacology
   1. dideoxycytidine 1965–
      Either of two isomeric pyrimidine nucleoside analogues having the formula C9H13N3O3; spec. (in full 2′,3′-dideoxycytidine) a compound which…
   2. azidothymidine 1974–
      A substituted derivative of thymidine that has been used to inhibit the replication of HIV, the AIDS virus, 3′-azido-3′-deoxythymidine. Abbreviated…
   3. dideoxyinosine 1975–
      Any of several isomeric purine nucleoside analogues which inhibit the replication of certain viruses; spec. (in full 2′,3′-dideoxyinosine), one…
   4. AZT 1985–
      Azidothymidine.
   5. ddC 1987–
      Pharmacology, dideoxycytidine.
   6. Retrovir 1987–
      A proprietary name for: the drug azidothymidine.
   7. zidovudine 1987–
      = azidothymidine, n.
   8. ddI 1989–
      = dideoxyinosine, n.
   9. didanosine 1990–
      = 2′,3′-dideoxyinosine at dideoxyinosine, n.
   10. nevirapine 1991–
       A drug structurally related to the benzodiazepines which inhibits the reverse transcriptase of HIV-1.
   11. zalcitabine 1991–
       = dideoxycytidine, n.
   12. non-nucleoside 1993–
       A non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zalˈsɪtəbiːn/
zal-SIT-uh-been

####

##### 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.

####

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

zalcitabine typically occurs about 0.05 times per million words in modern written English.

zalcitabine 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 zalcitabine, n., 1990–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1990 | 0.047
2000 | 0.047
2010 | 0.047

zalcitabine, n. was first published in 1997; not fully revised.

zalcitabine, n. was last modified in December 2024.