zillnoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zill mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zill. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the noun zill?
| 1800 | 0.0031 |
| 1810 | 0.0026 |
| 1820 | 0.0025 |
| 1830 | 0.0024 |
| 1840 | 0.0019 |
| 1850 | 0.0013 |
| 1860 | 0.0012 |
| 1870 | 0.0013 |
| 1880 | 0.0012 |
| 1890 | 0.0011 |
| 1900 | 0.0013 |
| 1910 | 0.0012 |
| 1920 | 0.0012 |
| 1930 | 0.0014 |
| 1940 | 0.002 |
| 1950 | 0.0026 |
| 1960 | 0.0032 |
| 1970 | 0.0035 |
| 1980 | 0.0041 |
| 1990 | 0.0046 |
| 2000 | 0.0051 |
| 2010 | 0.0051 |
How is the noun zill pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the noun zill come from?
Earliest known use
mid 1700s
The earliest known use of the noun zill is in the mid 1700s.
OED's earliest evidence for zill is from 1754, in the writing of Alexander Drummond, traveller.
zill is a borrowing from Turkish.
Etymons: Ottoman Turkish zil.
Nearby entries
- zigzagged, adj.1774–
- zigzaggery, n.1761–
- zigzaggy, adj.a1845–
- zigzag machine, n.1952–
- zigzag trefoil, n.1796–
- zig-zig, n.1918–
- Zika, n.1952–
- Zilavka, n.1926–
- zilch, n. & adj.1925–
- zilch, v.1957–
- zill, n.1754–
- zilla, n.1772–
- -zilla, comb. form
- zilladar, n.1763–
- Zil lane, n.1985–
- zilla parishad, n.1957–
- zillion, n. & adj.1920–
- zillionaire, n.1926–
- zillionth, n. & adj.1940–
- zimb, n.1790–
- Zimba, n.1625–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1754–A type of cymbal traditionally used in Turkish and Middle Eastern music or dance; esp. a small cymbal of a kind usually played in pairs, being attached to the fingers and thumb and struck together to make a sound (cf. finger cymbal n.). Frequently in plural.
- 1754
Brass plates, which they call zel, or cymbals, which a fellow gingled together.
A. Drummond, Travels v. 119 - 1817
Where, some hours since, was heard the swell Of trumpet and the clash of zel.
T. Moore, Lalla Rookh i. 8 - 1838
The clash of the zell, the boom of the African drum, and the wild and barbarous blast of the Moorish clarion.
E. Bulwer-Lytton, Leila iv. i. 167 - 1870
The brothers Keuropé..export annually about 1,300 pairs of zils into Western European countries.
C. Engel, Descriptive Catalogue of Musical Instruments in South Kensington Museum 25 - 1978
A dancer may have tied a scarf tightly around her hips, draped a scarf over her hands or picked up a set of zills.
Dance Research Journal vol. 10 16/1 - 2002
Belly dancing..classes are accompanied by live percussionists and women play finger cymbals called zills.
Time 28 October 57/3
- cymbalOld English–One of a pair of concave plates of brass or bronze, which are struck together to produce a sharp ringing sound. Also used singly and struck with a…
- chimea1300–1400A cymbal. Obsolete.
- chime-bellc1300A cymbal (see etymology).
- basinsa1350–1630plural. Hollow metal dishes clashed together to produce sound; ? cymbals. The beating of metal basins was formerly part of the mocking accompaniment…
- target1696Applied to various objects resembling a target or shield. A cymbal. Obsolete.
- zill1754–A type of cymbal traditionally used in Turkish and Middle Eastern music or dance; esp. a small cymbal of a kind usually played in pairs, being…
- Turkish cymbal1816–A cymbal of Turkish origin, or of a style considered characteristic of Turkey; (in later use) spec. type of cymbal with a flat or slightly arched…
- cymbalon1824–= cymbal, n.
- Chinese cymbal1827–A cymbal of Chinese origin, or of a style considered characteristic of China; (in later use) spec. a type of cymbal with a distinct upturned edge.
- finger cymbal1845–A small cymbal of a type usually played in pairs, one being attached to the index or middle finger, and the other to the thumb, so that the two can…
- crash cymbal1927–A cymbal hung in such a way as to make a crashing noise when struck with a drumstick.
- choke-cymbal1934–(See quots. 1934, 1938); also, a cymbal that is ‘choked’ (see choke, v. II.10b).
- sock cymbal1936–= high hat, n. A.3; also attributive.
- sizzle cymbal1944–A cymbal, used chiefly in jazz and dance bands, with several small rivets set loosely through it to make a sizzling sound when the cymbal is struck.
- top cymbal1948–A ride cymbal (see ride, n.² 5c).
- ride1956–In full ride cymbal. A cymbal used by esp. jazz or rock drummers for keeping up a continuous rhythm.
- splash cymbal1961–A small, light cymbal.
Pronunciation
British English
U.S. English
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
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
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
- 1700s–1800szel
- 1800szell
- 1800s–zil, zill
Frequency
zill typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zill 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 zill, n., 1800–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1800 | 0.0031 |
| 1810 | 0.0026 |
| 1820 | 0.0025 |
| 1830 | 0.0024 |
| 1840 | 0.0019 |
| 1850 | 0.0013 |
| 1860 | 0.0012 |
| 1870 | 0.0013 |
| 1880 | 0.0012 |
| 1890 | 0.0011 |
| 1900 | 0.0013 |
| 1910 | 0.0012 |
| 1920 | 0.0012 |
| 1930 | 0.0014 |
| 1940 | 0.002 |
| 1950 | 0.0026 |
| 1960 | 0.0032 |
| 1970 | 0.0035 |
| 1980 | 0.0041 |
| 1990 | 0.0046 |
| 2000 | 0.0051 |
| 2010 | 0.0051 |