<Arabic (collective plural) az-Zaydiyya, < the name Zayd (see definition) + ‑ī singular adjective ending.
Meaning & use
Islam.
1709–
(A member of) one of the three principal Shiite sects, mainly established in Yemen, and owing allegiance to Zayd ibn ʿAlī (c700–740). Also attributive or as adj.
1709
Another Sect, call'd, Zeidee, believe that long before the World shall end, a Persian Prophet shall be sent by God to dis-annul the Laws of Mahomet, and teach a new and surer way to Joys hereafter.
A. Hill, Full Account Ottoman Empire viii. 60
1717
The Zeidi, Kadari, Jabari, etc. put me in mind of the Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist, etc.
Lady M. W. Montagu, Letter 1 April (1965) vol. I. 317
1859
The throne of Yemen was hereditary in the family of the Imáms of Sanäa; they were of the Zeidee sect.
R. L. Playfair, Hist. Arabia Felix iv. 29
1885
There have been two great schisms in the succession of the Imāms, the first upon the death of ʿAlī Zainu'l-ʿAbidīn, when part of the sect adhered to his son Zaid, the founder of the Zaidīyah sect.
T. P. Hughes, Dictionary of Islam 574/1
1911
The Zaidis are still to be found in Yemen, and dynasties belonging to their sect have at various times ruled in the country.
D. S. Margoliouth, Mohammedanism v. 167
1930
Madani..genuflected as frequently as a Zaidi.
A. Rihani, Arabian Peak & Desert xviii. 190
1930
These ever-praying Zioud!
A. Rihani, Arabian Peak & Desert xviii. 192
1951
Zaidī imams ruled in Tabaristan, south of the Caspian Sea, from 864 to 928.
A. S. Tritton, Islam vi. 76
1979
Shiism was represented in the early kalām discussions by its two major branches, the Imāmiyya and the Zaydiyya.
W. Madelung, Relig. Schools & Sects in Medieval Islam (1985) viii. 121
A member of a branch of Shia Islam which holds that, following the death of the sixth Shiite Imam in the second century of the Hijra, the Imamship… In early use, Ismailian is sometimes treated as synonymous with assassin, a derogatory term for a member of the Nizari sect of Ismailism which was founded in the late 11th cent.; cf. assassin, n. 1.
A member of a branch of Shia Islam which holds that, following the death of the sixth Shiite Imam in the second century of the Hijra, the Imamship… In early use sometimes treated as synonymous with assassin, a derogatory term for a member of the Nizari sect of Ismailism which was founded in the late 11th cent.; cf. assassin, n. 1.
A member of a branch of Shia Islam which holds that, following the death of the sixth Shiite Imam in the second century of the Hijra, the Imamship… In early use, Ismaili is sometimes treated as synonymous with assassin, a derogatory term for a member of the Nizari sect of Ismailism which was founded in the late 11th cent.; cf. assassin, n. 1.
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.
Also Zaydi, formerly Zeidee, Zeidi. Plural Zaidi(s), Zaidiyah, Zioud, etc.
Frequency
Zaidi typically occurs about 0.1 times per million words in modern written English.
Zaidi is in frequency band 4, which contains words occurring between 0.1 and 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 Zaidi, n., 1770–2010
* 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
1770
0.0023
1780
0.015
1790
0.013
1800
0.013
1810
0.013
1820
0.012
1830
0.0018
1840
0.0014
1850
0.0085
1860
0.011
1870
0.014
1880
0.014
1890
0.014
1900
0.0072
1910
0.0092
1920
0.011
1930
0.019
1940
0.031
1950
0.048
1960
0.066
1970
0.085
1980
0.1
1990
0.11
2000
0.12
2010
0.12
Frequency of Zaidi, 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
0.0019
2018
0.0023
2019
0.0019
2020
0.0032
2021
0.0027
2022
0.0063
2023
0.007
2024
0.0093
Zaidi, n. was first published in 1993; not fully revised.