zubrnoun
Factsheet
What does the noun zubr mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zubr. 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 zubr?
| 1820 | 0.0056 |
| 1830 | 0.0045 |
| 1840 | 0.0037 |
| 1850 | 0.0033 |
| 1860 | 0.0032 |
| 1870 | 0.0032 |
| 1880 | 0.0015 |
| 1890 | 0.0006 |
| 1900 | 0.0008 |
| 1910 | 0.0009 |
| 1920 | 0.0008 |
| 1930 | 0.0006 |
| 1940 | 0.0005 |
| 1950 | 0.0005 |
| 1960 | 0.0005 |
| 1970 | 0.0004 |
| 1980 | 0.0004 |
| 1990 | 0.0005 |
| 2000 | 0.0004 |
| 2010 | 0.0004 |
How is the noun zubr pronounced?
British English
Where does the noun zubr come from?
Earliest known use
mid 1700s
The earliest known use of the noun zubr is in the mid 1700s.
OED's earliest evidence for zubr is from 1763, in the writing of John Bell, diplomatist and traveller.
zubr is a borrowing from Russian.
Nearby entries
- zosterops, n.1867–
- Zouave, n.1848–
- zouk, n.1986–
- zounds, v.1680
- zounds, int.a1593–
- Zou-Zou, n.1860–
- zowie, int.1902–
- zoysia, n.1965–
- ZPG, n.1970–
- Zr, n.1814–
- zubr, n.1763–
- zubrowka, n.1916–
- zucarine, adj.a1425
- zucca, n.1818–
- zucchetto, n.1853–
- zucchini, n.1916–
- zuche, n.1358–1676
- Zuckerkandl, n.1910–
- zufolo, n.1724–
- zug, n.1899–
- zugtrompete, n.1978–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1763–The European bison or aurochs, Bos bonasus.
- 1763
The stags are of two kinds; one called zuber, the same with the German crownhirsh, but somewhat larger.
J. Bell, Travels from St. Petersburg vol. I. 294 - 1847
He who kills a zubr without permission of the Russian government, has to pay as a fine 2000 rubles.
W. C. L. Martin, Ox 8/1 - 1882
A confused account of two distinct animals, the Aurochs or Zubr of Lithuania, and the extinct Urus which Charlemagne is said to have hunted.
C. Elton, Origins of English History 59
the world animals mammals group Ungulata (hoofed) group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) subfamily Bovinae (bovine) [nouns] genus Bison bison bonasus (European bison)- bisona1398–Either of two large wild bovids constituting the genus Bison, characterized by a high shoulder hump… In later use more fully European bison. The…
- bonasus1572–A genus (or species) of the ox family (Bovidæ): the bison, n. See also aurochs, n.
- zubr1763–The European bison or aurochs, Bos bonasus.
- aurochs1768–Historically and properly, the name of an extinct species of Wild Ox (Bos Urus Owen, B. primigenius Boj.), described by Cæsar as Urus, which formerly…
- urochs1839–(See quots.)
- wisent1866–The aurochs.
Pronunciation
British 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.
Forms
Variant forms
Also 1700s zuber.Frequency
zubr typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zubr is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency of zubr, n., 1820–2010
* 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 |
|---|---|
| 1820 | 0.0056 |
| 1830 | 0.0045 |
| 1840 | 0.0037 |
| 1850 | 0.0033 |
| 1860 | 0.0032 |
| 1870 | 0.0032 |
| 1880 | 0.0015 |
| 1890 | 0.0006 |
| 1900 | 0.0008 |
| 1910 | 0.0009 |
| 1920 | 0.0008 |
| 1930 | 0.0006 |
| 1940 | 0.0005 |
| 1950 | 0.0005 |
| 1960 | 0.0005 |
| 1970 | 0.0004 |
| 1980 | 0.0004 |
| 1990 | 0.0005 |
| 2000 | 0.0004 |
| 2010 | 0.0004 |