zoochorous, adj.

zoochorous
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoochorous_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2017

# zoochorousadjective

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective zoochorous mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the adjective zoochorous. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the adjective zoochorous?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1900 | 0.0013
1910 | 0.0013
1920 | 0.0012
1930 | 0.0011
1940 | 0.0012
1950 | 0.0023
1960 | 0.0024
1970 | 0.0021
1980 | 0.0021
1990 | 0.0024
2000 | 0.0027
2010 | 0.0032

### How is the adjective zoochorous pronounced?

#### British English

/ˌzuː(ə)ˈkɔːrəs/
zoo-uh-KOR-uhss
/ˌzəʊəˈkɔːrəs/
zoh-uh-KOR-uhss

#### U.S. English

/ˌzu(ə)ˈkɔrəs/
zoo-uh-KOR-uhss
/ˌzoʊəˈkɔrəs/
zoh-uh-KOR-uhss

### Where does the adjective zoochorous come from?

Earliest known use

1900s

The earliest known use of the adjective zoochorous is in the 1900s.

OED's earliest evidence for zoochorous is from 1904, in the writing of Frederic Edward Clements.

zoochorous is formed within English, by derivation; perhaps modelled on a German lexical item.

Etymons: zoochore n., ‑ous suffix.

### Nearby entries

1. zooarchaeologist, n. 1957–
2. zooarchaeology, n. 1967–
3. zoobenthos, n. 1923–
4. zoocarp, n. 1824–88
5. zoocaulon, n. 1881–
6. zoocentric, adj. 1882–
7. zoochemical, adj. & n. 1844–
8. zoochemistry, n. 1835–
9. zoochlorella, n. 1882–
10. zoochore, n. 1904–
11. zoochorous, adj.1904–
12. zoochory, n. 1921–
13. zoo-crazy, adj. 1938–
14. zoocultural, adj. 1899–
15. zooculture, n. 1873–
16. zoocytium, n. 1880–
17. zoodendrium, n. 1880–
18. Zoodikers, int. 1749–98
19. zoodynamic, adj.?1819–
20. zoodynamics, n. 1888–
21. zooecial, adj. 1873–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by derivation; perhaps modelled on a German lexical item.
Etymons: zoochore n., ‑ous suffix.
< zoochore n. + ‑ous suffix, perhaps after German zoochor (1892 or earlier).

## Meaning & use

Ecology.

1. 1904–
   Of a plant: having seeds, spores, etc., dispersed by animals. Also: designating this mode of dispersal.
   Cf. anemochorous adj., anthropochorous adj., hydrochorous adj., myrmecochorous adj.
   1. 1904

      > Species..that are found in the shelter of forests and thickets are usually zoochorous.

      F. E. Clements in Bot. Surv. Nebraska No. 7. 48
   2. 1975

      > The adaptations of zoochorous plants that make them attractive to birds delight landscapers.

      Auk vol. 92 40
   3. 1999

      > Only 14% of the species in the Central Lower Karoo are zoochorous.

      K. Van Rheede van Oudtshoorn & M. W. van Rooyen, Dispersal Biol. Desert Plants ix. 171
   4. 2014

      > Zoochorous dispersal usually occurs during the rainy season.

      A. Traveset et al. in R. S. Gallagher, Seeds (ed. 3) iii. 67/2
   ecology plants
   1. zoophilous 1881–
      Ecology. Of a plant or flower: pollinated by animals. In later use also (of a fruit or seed): dispersed by animals. Also: of, relating to, or of…
   2. zoochorous 1904–
      Of a plant: having seeds, spores, etc., dispersed by animals. Also: designating this mode of dispersal.
   3. hydrochorous 1905–
      See hydrochore, n.
   4. myrmecochorous 1908–
      Of a seed or fruit: dispersed by ants. Of a plant: producing seeds or fruits of this kind.
   5. hydrochoric 1940–
      See hydrochore, n.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˌzuː(ə)ˈkɔːrəs/
zoo-uh-KOR-uhss
/ˌzəʊəˈkɔːrəs/
zoh-uh-KOR-uhss

### U.S. English

/ˌzu(ə)ˈkɔrəs/
zoo-uh-KOR-uhss
/ˌzoʊəˈkɔrəs/
zoh-uh-KOR-uhss

####

##### 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

zoochorous typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zoochorous 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 data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zoochorous, adj., 1900–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1900 | 0.0013
1910 | 0.0013
1920 | 0.0012
1930 | 0.0011
1940 | 0.0012
1950 | 0.0023
1960 | 0.0024
1970 | 0.0021
1980 | 0.0021
1990 | 0.0024
2000 | 0.0027
2010 | 0.0032

## Compounds & derived words

Sort by

1. zoochory, n. 1921–
   The dispersal of plant seeds, spores, etc., by animals.

Originally published as part of the entry for zoo-, comb. form

zoochorous, adj. was revised in June 2017.

zoochorous, adj. was last modified in July 2023.