zebra printnoun & adjective
Factsheet
What does the word zebra print mean?
There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the word zebra print. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the word zebra print?
| 1950 | 0.0001 |
| 1960 | 0.0004 |
| 1970 | 0.0013 |
| 1980 | 0.0019 |
| 1990 | 0.0022 |
| 2000 | 0.0027 |
| 2010 | 0.0033 |
Where does the word zebra print come from?
Earliest known use
1930s
The earliest known use of the word zebra print is in the 1930s.
OED's earliest evidence for zebra print is from 1932, in New York Times.
Nearby entries
- zebraic, adj.1858–
- zebra marking, n.1854–
- zebra moray, n.1933–
- zebra mule, n.1841–
- zebra mussel, n.1866–
- zebrano, n.1908–
- zebra opossum, n.1808–
- zebra parakeet, n.1856–
- zebra plant, n.1826–
- zebra poison, n.1871–74
- zebra print, n. & adj.1932–
- zebra rhomb, n.1770–1844
- zebra rock, n.1895–
- zebra rush, n.1882–
- zebra shark, n.1804–
- zebra skin, n.1774–
- zebra spider, n.1806–
- zebra suit, n.1853–
- zebra swallowtail, n.1855–
- zebra wolf, n.1808–
- zebrawood, n.1768–
Meaning & use
- 1932–a. n. A pattern, motif, etc., resembling the striped coat of a zebra; (also) a fabric bearing such a design; b. adj. designating any of various products, esp. textile fabrics, garments, etc., having this design.
- 1932
Schiaparelli's Paisley patterns and Lanvin's checkered or zigzag or zebra prints are a change from floral designs.
New York Times 14 February viii. 13 - 1942
Playsuit and overskirt of zebra-print spun rayon.
Harper's Bazaar December 68 (advertisement) - 1978
She is dressed in zebra print with see-through sleeves and plunging neckline.
Washington Post 31 August a3/1 - 2011
Add a zebra-print rug, and you have instant glamour.
J. DeMontravel, Hers i. 23
the world textiles and clothing textiles textile fabric or an article of textile fabric textile fabric textile fabric of specific colour [adjectives]- motleyc1380–Diversified in colour; variegated; particoloured; chequered; multicoloured. Formerly also: †made of motley (sense A.1a) (obsolete).
- varianta1400–1600Of colours: Varied, variegated. Also of cloth or an animal in respect of colour. Obsolete.
- shadowed1639Of textile fabrics: Having colours or tints gradually passing one into another. Obsolete.
- mixture1784–Of a fabric: having a mottled or variegated colouring. Of a garment, etc.: made of such material. Cf. sense A.II.6.
- corbeau1810–In the drapery trade, name for a dark green colour verging on black.
- Lovat1895–Designating a type of tweed or a garment made of this; (also) designating a muted shade of a colour characteristic of this tweed, or something…
- zebra print1932–a. n. A pattern, motif, etc., resembling the striped coat of a zebra; (also) a fabric bearing such a design; b. adj. designating any of various…
- zebra marking1854–a. (Frequently in plural) stripes or markings resembling those of a zebra; spec. dark and light stripes applied to a road surface to indicate a…
- candy stripe1875–a. n. A pattern of alternating stripes of white and another colour, typically pink or red, resembling the pattern of a candy cane; b. adj. patterned…
- Peking stripe1879–A fabric design of coloured stripes, characteristic of pekin (see Peking, n. 1).
- ribbon grain1932–A stripe that is visible in the grain of mahogany and certain other hardwoods when quarter-sawn; frequently attributive.
- zebra print1932–a. n. A pattern, motif, etc., resembling the striped coat of a zebra; (also) a fabric bearing such a design; b. adj. designating any of various…
- ribbon figure1933–= ribbon grain, n.
Frequency
zebra print typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zebra print is in frequency band 2, which contains words occurring between 0.001 and 0.01 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency of zebra print, n. & adj., 1950–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1950 | 0.0001 |
| 1960 | 0.0004 |
| 1970 | 0.0013 |
| 1980 | 0.0019 |
| 1990 | 0.0022 |
| 2000 | 0.0027 |
| 2010 | 0.0033 |